Category: Acharei Mot

We Will Do and We Will Obey!

April, 2003

Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:1-18:30 | Y’chezk’el (Ezekiel) 22:1–19

Parashat Acharei Mot contains within it not just the laws of Yom Kippur but also a list of forbidden sexual relationships. The Lord declares that by way of the sexual immorality forbidden in Leviticus 18, the Canaanite nations defiled the land. Their sexual immorality was the primary reason for the Canaanite expulsion. Ironically, in the Haftarah portion, the prophet Ezekiel finds himself listing the same reasons for Judah’s expulsion from the land. As we look into Ezekiel’s dark prophecy, we would all do well to take warning from the prophet.

In the Haftarah passage from Ezekiel the prophet describes Jerusalem as the Bloody City. What a title Ezekiel gives to the Holy City! In these nineteen verses the prophet denounces the sins of Jerusalem in no uncompromising terms. Verse after verse speak of the multitude of sins that were frequently committed in the Holy City in the years just preceding its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Aside from the assurance of the Holy One that their discipline is to be considered a smelting of metals in a furnace instead of a total annihilation of the nation, there is very little hope preached by Ezekiel in this passage.

Although Ezekiel’s denunciation and the threat of impending trouble found in these verses may seem rather severe, we must remember that Israel had already been forewarned in the Torah about such potential difficulties. God made a covenant with the nation. That covenant, made in the wilderness of Sinai, stipulated great blessing for the people of Israel if they would live by it. Yet, it also provided for severe consequences if they did not live by the covenant. The fact remains that there was a covenant in force. The terms were indeed outlined to them by the Holy One. All of heaven and earth stood as witnesses against the children of Israel when they publicly agreed to accept the covenant by saying the famous words recorded in Exodus 24:7, na’aseh v’nishma,—“we will do and we will obey.” In this pledge, Israel committed herself as a nation to keep the covenant being enacted there.

If we remember this covenantal background, it will help us to see why the discipline of the Lord had to be so severe against the sins of the nation.

Ezekiel opens his message by denouncing the city of Jerusalem as a whole. Instead of her being known as the Holy City (Revelation 21:2), she was called by the prophet, in Ezekiel 22:2, the Bloody City. The designation in Hebrew reads, ’ir hadamim. Shedding innocent blood appears to have been one of the main crimes of the ancient city of Jerusalem, but is not the only. Sexual improprieties such as approaching a menstruant, incest, and adultery are listed along with profaning the Sabbaths. For all of these sins, the Lord says, “I shall scatter you among the nations, and I shall disperse you through the lands, and I shall consume your uncleanness from you.” (Ezekiel 22:15).

Before we are tempted to slip into the moral relativism that our culture has to offer, we might do well to read Ezekiel’s prophecy. Our culture tells us that sexuality is our own choice and that all expressions of it are ultimately healthy. God thinks otherwise, and found it necessary to expel the Canaanites and even His own beloved people because of the gravity of such sins. Ezekiel ranks our sexual impropriety and immodesty on a par with Sabbath violation and bloodshed!

When we enter into covenant with the Lord as a part of His covenant people, we are beholden to certain covenant norms and expectations. By following Yeshua and taking Him as Lord and Savior, we, like Israel, have declared, “Na’aseh v’nishma, “we will do and we will obey.” As Ezekiel points out, this includes the honoring of father and mother, kindness to strangers, orphan, and widow, honoring the Lord’s Sabbaths, and sexual morality. The Torah is a record of these norms and expectations.

As part of a covenant people, we must behave as a covenant people by living according to the covenant, that is, the Torah of Israel. It is our privilege, it is our delight and it is our obligation as the people of God and the New Jerusalem. May we not be Ezekiel’s City of Blood, but rather a City under the Blood of the Lamb.

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