Emor
Say — אמור
Regular readings above are often interrupted with special readings on Jewish holidays, special Sabbaths, and Rosh Chodesh. Refer to the current Torah Portion Schedule for all these variations, and special portions.
Portion Summary
The thirty-first reading from the Torah is called Emor (אמור), a title that comes from the first verse of the reading, which says, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Speak (emor) to the priests, the sons of Aaron ...'" (Leviticus 21:1). Emor begins with special laws of sanctity, propriety and purity for the priesthood. Leviticus 23 provides an overview of the biblical calendar, a listing of the LORD's appointed times.
Portion Outline
- Torah
- Leviticus 21:1 | The Holiness of Priests
- Leviticus 22:1 | The Use of Holy Offerings
- Leviticus 22:17 | Acceptable Offerings
- Leviticus 23:1 | Appointed Festivals
- Leviticus 23:3 | The Sabbath, Passover, and Unleavened Bread
- Leviticus 23:9 | The Offering of First Fruits
- Leviticus 23:15 | The Festival of Weeks
- Leviticus 23:23 | The Festival of Trumpets
- Leviticus 23:26 | The Day of Atonement
- Leviticus 23:33 | The Festival of Booths
- Leviticus 24:1 | The Lamp
- Leviticus 24:5 | The Bread for the Tabernacle
- Leviticus 24:10 | Blasphemy and Its Punishment
- Prophets
- Eze 44:15 | The Levitical Priests
Ten Reasons to Blow the Shofar
The Torah commands us to hear the sound of the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah, but what does the blowing of the trumpet symbolize?
A man in a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) blows the shofar. (Image: Adobe Stock)
The Torah commands the Jewish people to blow the shofar on Rosh HaShanah as a memorial, but it does not indicate what the blowing of the shofar memorializes. The sages offered various attempts to explain the festival. They searched through the Scriptures for references to shofars and trumpet blasts and derived a plethora of different remembrances. The early medieval sage Rav Sa’adiah Ga’on codified the various explanations along with traditional themes associated with the festival and produced a list of ten primary remembrances for which the shofar is blown on Rosh HaShanah. Each of these remembrances highlights a unique aspect of the festival.
Each of these remembrances highlights a unique aspect of the festival:
1. The Coronation of the
King
2. The Call to Repentance
3. The Giving of the Torah at Sinai
4. Warning of Impending Judgment
5. The Destruction and Future Rebuilding of the Temple
6. The Binding of Isaac
7. Fear of God
8. The Day of Judgment (Yom Kippur)
9. The Ingathering of Israel
10. The Resurrection of the Dead
Even as we wait to hear the trumpet blast of the king, the great shofar of our
returning Redeemer, we celebrate the appointed time of the Rosh Hashanah. The
annual blast of the shofar during the Feast of Trumpets foreshadows that day
when the heavens will be rent by the blast of Messiah's trumpet. For disciples
of the Messiah, Rosh Hashanah is a reminder of that appointed time yet to come
when the Master "will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they
will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to
the other" (Matthew 24:31).
It is a day on which we anticipate the coming judgment, the trumpets of the book of Revelation, and the beginning of the end. It is a glimpse of the future, a shadow cast through time. As such, the Feast of Trumpets is relevant for everyone who believes in Messiah's return. It is an important festival for the disciples of Yeshua.
The Messiah’s shofar will announce his arrival, the inauguration of His kingdom, and His coronation.
A shofar is an ancient musical horn made of ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. (Image © Bigstock)
Jewish eschatology teaches that the fall festivals allude to the time to come. First comes the judgment on Rosh HaShanah when the court is convened, then the confessions of iniquity on Yom Kippur when the court issues its verdict, and after that, the rejoicing of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
Likewise, the time to come commences with a great day of judgment, corresponding to Rosh HaShanah. After that, it is written, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness” (Ezekiel 36:25). And the LORD says, “I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant” (Jeremiah 50:20). These passages correspond to Yom Kippur.
After that comes Sukkot when we dwell in booths for seven days. In this regard, the prophet Isaiah says, “There will be a sukkah to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain” (Isaiah 4:6). This is why it is called the season of rejoicing.
Finally, Shemini Atzeret
concludes the festivals, corresponding to that day when the time of the nations
will be finished and Israel will rejoice.
The sound of Messiah’s shofar will announce His arrival, the inauguration of
His kingdom, and His coronation. The world will repent and renounce its
wickedness. He will bring a fresh revelation of God to the world, transcending
the revelation at Sinai, and the Torah will go forth from Zion as it once did
from Sinai.
The trumpet blast that heralds His arrival will be a warning to the wicked. He will rebuild the holy Temple in Jerusalem. He is the son who was bound like Isaac, and in his merit God will forgive Israel their sins. He will fill the world with the fear of the LORD, and all nations will stand in judgment before Him. He will gather the exiles of Israel, for He “will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:31). Then “the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:52).
According to the Talmud, the blowing of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah confuses Satan. The sound of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah frightens him because it reminds him that his time is short. He dreads the shofar blast of the Messiah that will signal the final redemption.
When Satan hears the shofar of Rosh HaShanah, he exclaims in terror, “It is the shofar of the day of judgment! The time is short when I will be swallowed up, as it says, ‘He will swallow up death for all time’” (Tosafot).
The Torah tells us to count the forty-nine days until the festival of Shavu'ot, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and the anniversary of the giving of the Spirit in Jerusalem.
A "Counting the Omer" chart published for FFOZ Friends this year.
Coming immediately after the first day of the week of Unleavened Bread, the Day of the Omer is the anniversary of the Master's resurrection. According to the gospel of John, the Master suffered on the day of Passover. He remained in the tomb on the first day of Unleavened Bread and rose after the Sabbath: the day of the Omer.
Year after year, the day of the first fruits of the barley reminds us of the resurrection of Messiah, the "first fruits of those who are asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The day of the first fruits of the barley offering is day one of a forty-nine day count-off to the festival of Pentecost. Pentecost is the fiftieth day. The name Pentecost is derived from the Greek word for "fifty."
The Torah commands us to count each of the intervening days. The forty-nine-day count-off is called the "counting of the omer." During the forty-nine days of the omer count, the wheat crop in Israel ripened. By the end of the omer count, the crop was ready for harvest, and the first fruits of the wheat crop were offered as a bread offering in the Temple at Pentecost.
The days of the counting of the omer are an important part of the cycle of sanctification for believers. In Judaism, the forty-nine days of the counting of the omer are traditionally regarded as a time of spiritually shining up the soul in anticipation of Pentecost. In Messianic Judaism, the forty-nine days are extra special because they include the anniversary of the forty days that the risen Messiah was among His disciples; they include the anniversary of His ascension, and they culminate with the anniversary of the day the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the believers. As we count our way through the forty-nine days, we are advancing along the cycle of sanctification.
Fifty days later comes the festival of Pentecost. It is called Pentecost because that is the Greek word for "fifty." Its Hebrew name is the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot, שבועות) because there are seven weeks of days between the beginning of Unleavened Bread and the festival of Pentecost.
According to Judaism, the day of Pentecost is the anniversary of the day God spoke the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. According to the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the Master's resurrection.
We are all on a journey with our Creator. Our journeys are full of purpose and design. And, like all travelers, we make constant choices to move ahead, stand still, drift, or fall backwards. The seed of redemption planted in us at Passover has forty-nine days to grow and mature until the harvest of Pentecost. These days of counting provide a natural and timely opportunity to consider our path and make goals about our destinations.
In Leviticus 23, God gives a calendar to His people. This biblical calendar is different from the one to which we are accustomed. The biblical calendar is lunar: It is based on the phases of the moon. The waxing and waning of the moon determines the day of the biblical month. The tiny sliver of the new moon always appears on the first day of the month; the full moon indicates the middle of the month; the disappearance of the moon indicates the end of the month.
God declares certain days to be mo'adim (מעדים); that is, "appointed times." He says, "The LORD's appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations--My appointed times are these." (Leviticus 23:2)
What does this mean? Leviticus 23 is like God's day planner. He has made appointments on which to meet with His people. They include the weekly Sabbath, the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Booths.
The Apostle Paul teaches that the festivals are like a shadow cast by Messiah. (Colossians 2:16-17) That means that each of God's appointed times should teach us something about Messiah.
Almost all of the appointed times commemorate some great past act of redemption. For example, the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the exodus from Egypt.
But the biblical festivals can also be understood as an eschatological blueprint. In a sense, they lay out the pattern of redemption because they truly are God's appointed times for interacting with man. Each appointed time foreshadows one of the appointed times of God's plan of redemption. In that regard, they are the appointed times of Messiah. They are the "times [and] epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority." (Acts 1:7) They represent the appointed time "of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." (Matthew 24:36) To study the festivals is to study the future. To study the festivals is to study Messiah.
The appointed times communicate deep spiritual lessons to those who practice them. Every festival draws us closer to the living God and His holy Son.
The appointed times of the LORD are like annual rehearsals for the appointed times of redemption. They are like the blueprints for the work of Messiah. The spring festivals of Passover, Unleavened Bread, the Omer, and Pentecost all received a messianic fulfillment in the Master's first advent. The fall festivals of the Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Atonement, the Festival of Sukkot, and the Eighth Day all point toward His second coming. They are a "shadow of what is to come" (Colossians 2:17).
The biblical festivals are God's appointed times to meet with His people. God has made an appointment to meet with you. Are you planning on showing up?
A market in Jerusalem is selling beautiful, spotless etrogim for the Festival of Sukkot. (Image © First Fruits of Zion)
The Master tells the story of how a certain king was giving a wedding feast for his son. He sent out his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast. The servants had two critical pieces of information. They were to declare the appointed time and the appointed place of the banquet. As God summoned Israel to appear before Him, He decreed an appointed place and appointed times. The appointed place was the Tabernacle (and in later years, the Temple in Jerusalem.) The appointed times are the biblical festivals.
Since the destruction of the Temple, the appointed place has been removed, but the appointed times continue. God explains that the appointed times are to be "a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places" (Leviticus 23:14). That means that they are never to be cancelled. They are never obsolete or done away with. They are to be celebrated and observed wherever we live.
The appointed times are part of the biblical calendar. The biblical calendar is a lunar calendar. It is based on the phases of the moon. The waxing and waning of the moon determines the day of the biblical month. The tiny sliver of the new moon always appears on the first day of the month; the full moon indicates the middle of the month; the disappearance of the moon indicates the end of the month.
In Leviticus 23 God declares certain days on the biblical calendar to be mo'adim, that is, "appointed times." They include the weekly Sabbath, the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost, Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths.
It is not uncommon to hear people refer to the appointed times as the Jewish festivals. This is true in that God gave His appointed times to the people of Israel. He told the Israelites, "The LORD's appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these" (Leviticus 23:2). The Jewish people are the wardens of God's calendar.
However, God does not refer to them as Jewish festivals. He refers to them as "my appointed times." They are God's holy days. Paul asks, "Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also" (Romans 3:29). The Bible never offered Gentile Christians any alternative festival days. To say that Gentile believers are not expected to keep God's appointed times is the same thing as saying that Gentile believers are not supposed to have any holy days or days of worship. Neither the Gospels nor the Epistles grant the Gentile believers their own special festivals.
In the days of the Apostles, both Jewish and Gentile believers observed God's appointed times together. They met in the synagogues and in the Temple on the Sabbath and festival days to celebrate and observe God's holy days. When Gentile Christianity left the cradle of Judaism, the Gentile Christians began to neglect the appointed times. The Sabbath day was replaced with Sunday observance. The timing of Passover was changed. The other festivals fell into disuse. Is this what God intended for believers?
It is true that the Apostles never commanded the Gentile believers to keep the appointed times, but neither did they tell them not to. They were silent on the matter. In those days, the idea of not keeping the appointed times simply had not occurred to anyone.
The seven days of Sukkot force us to leave our comfortable homes and spend the week camping out with God.
A typical sukkah in a garden during Sukkot.
You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths. (Leviticus 23:42)
The temporary shelter is referred to as a sukkah (סוכה), which is the singular form of the plural word sukkot. A traditional sukkah must have at least two and a half walls made from virtually any material. The walls don't have to be solid. They could be plywood, canvas, latticework or just about anything. One wall can be part of a permanent structure. For example, the wall of a garage would work. The rest of the booth has to be temporary and disassembled after the festival.
The sukkah booth can be any size, so long as it is large enough for the family to eat and sleep in. The roof of the sukkah is supposed to be covered with some sort of foliage or vegetation that grows from the ground: tree branches, cornstalks, bamboo reeds, sticks or even lumber. The roof material has to provide adequate shade yet be sparse enough so rain can get in and stars can be seen through it. The sukkah should leave a person vulnerable to the elements.
The process of building and living in a sukkah is a great adventure for children. It's like building a fort and camping out in the backyard. People commonly decorate their sukkot. It's fun for the kids, often more fun than decorating a Christmas tree. Families hang harvest decorations and handmade artwork from the walls.
During the course of the seven days of Sukkot, it is appropriate to eat one's meals in the sukkah, and if the climate permits, to sleep at night inside the sukkah. Hosting guests in the sukkah for special holiday meals is a big part of the festival. It's a great time of fellowship.
Sukkot is a time of joy and celebration, a time to celebrate the harvest and revel in God's goodness. The festival of sukkot comes at harvest time. The joyous mood of sukkot is a dramatic shift from the solemn and austere tone of the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The celebration of sukkot is so joyous that Jewish liturgy often refers to it as "the season of our rejoicing." The commandment to move outside of one's comfortable zone and live in a booth is meant to remind us that God is our provider, sustainer and protector. On the cycle of sanctification, sukkot is an annual opportunity to revel in God's goodness and take delight in our redemption.
Sukkot is the culmination of all the appointed times. It is to the other festivals what the Sabbath is to the other six days of the week. It is a prophetic picture of the coming kingdom. It foreshadows the great celebration when the entire world will live in peace and brotherhood under the reign and rule of the righteous Messiah King.
What was it like to be one of the early Jewish believers, keeping the Jewish festivals, in light of the revelation of the Messiah?
The festivals are like a shadow cast by Messiah (Colossians 2:16–17). Each of God’s appointed times alludes to aspects of redemption and the revelation of the Messiah. Almost all of the appointed times commemorate some act of redemption from Israel’s history. For example, the Passover commemorates the exodus from Egypt. At the same time, the biblical festivals create an eschatological blueprint. They lay out the pattern of redemption because they schedule out God’s appointed times for interacting with man. Each appointed time foreshadows one of the appointments on God’s master plan of redemption. In that regard, the LORD’s appointed times are also the appointed times of Messiah: “Times and epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). They represent the appointed time “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36).
The Messiah’s death and resurrection imbued all the rituals of Passover with new life and new meaning. The death of the lamb became a solemn reminder of the death of the Savior. The matzah of the seder meal became a reminder of the Master’s body. The cup of the seder became a reminder of His blood—the cup of the new covenant. The bitter herbs became a reminder of their heartbreak on that fateful day.
The first day of the
Omer became a reminder of the day they found the empty tomb. As they counted
the days until Shavu’ot that year, they would have remembered the days that the
risen Yeshua walked among them. Ten days before Pentecost, the disciples must
have remarked, “On this day, one year ago, He ascended from the top of the
Mount of Olives.” Imagine gathering with the believers in the Temple on the
second Shavu’ot after the ascension. The disciples must have said, “Last year,
only 120 of us gathered together. This year we are thousands and thousands, all
zealous for the Torah.” To those early believers, it must have been perfectly
clear that the festivals foreshadow the Messiah.
The appointed times of the LORD are like annual rehearsals for the appointed
times of redemption and blueprints for the work of Messiah. The spring
festivals of Pesach, the Omer, and Shavu’ot all received a messianic
fulfillment in the Master’s first coming. The fall festivals of the Rosh
HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret all point toward His second
coming. They are a “shadow of what is to come” (Colossians 2:17). Even so, come
quickly Master!
The priesthood had to live at a higher standard of holiness because they directly represented HaShem.
The priests had to live at a higher standard of holiness and a higher standard of ritual purity than the rest of the Israelites. "They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings by fire to the LORD, the food of their God; so they shall be holy" (Leviticus 21:6), the Torah explains.
Contact with a dead body makes a person ritually unfit for seven days. This is not a problem for the average person. It is not a sin to become ritually unfit, but it is a good deed to attend to the dead and escort them to burial. For priests, though, this presents a problem. A priest is supposed to be in a state of ritual fitness to be able to serve in the Temple. Moreover, he must be in a ritually fit state before he can eat the priestly portions of food and the sacrifices. For that reason, priests are required to maintain ritual purity. One way to do that is to avoid coming into contact with a corpse.
Other laws apply to priests that do not apply to common Israelites. For example, the sons of Aaron are prohibited from marrying women who have been involved in sexual immorality, like promiscuity or prostitution. The high priest was forbidden from marrying any woman except a virgin Israelite.
To be fit for serving at the altar, the priests needed to be as physically unblemished as the sacrifices they were offering. The blind, the crippled, the disfigured, the maimed and the handicapped could not draw near to offer the LORD's offerings by fire. Such a priest was not disqualified from the priesthood. He still enjoyed all the privileges and rights of being a priest. He was able to participate in the services and eat the sacred offerings. He was not banned from the Temple courts. Yet his physical condition disqualified him from the altar services and from entering the Tabernacle proper. The requirement that a priest must be unblemished creates a connection between priest and sacrifice. Just as the sacrificial animals had to be unblemished to be accepted on the altar, so too the priest who brought them there had to be unblemished.
The priests had to live according to these higher standards because they were set apart for the service of the Temple. They were God's representatives on earth. Remembering this helps explain why believers need to live at a higher standard than the rest of the world. We are a spiritual priesthood. We have a calling to represent God to those who do not know Him.
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