𝗧𝗮𝘇𝗿𝗶𝗮“𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴” 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝟭𝟮:𝟭–𝟭𝟯:𝟱𝟵 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝘇𝗼𝗿𝗮“𝘛𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘢𝘵” 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝟭𝟰:𝟭–𝟭𝟱:𝟯𝟯

This week we find two portions joined into one. First up, lets look a bit at 𝗧𝗮𝘇𝗿𝗶𝗮, which details how a woman, who has just conceived a child, should remain isolated for a period of time and how to come back into community by way of a sacrifice once that time is over.

It didn't take long as I began to read the related passages to stop in my tracks and say, "OK, LORD - why the difference". You see, after giving birth we are told the woman will be 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 for 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 days if she bears a male child, and 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 if she bears a female. After giving birth to a male (who would be circumcised on the 8th day), following the first seven days, the woman would be in her 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 for 𝟯𝟯 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 and if a girl is born, the purification would last for 𝟲𝟲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀! 𝗗𝗢𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗘 in both cases!

I was perplexed. I mean why in the world would having a daughter require double the time of being unclean and double the time to be purified after? It felt like another place where women / girls were looked at as 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 their male counterparts. But as I sat quietly before the LORD and asked Him to help me understand, it wasn't long before a single word dropped in my spirit. 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗕.

Womb?!!?! Yes, the portal where both life and death can dwell within the woman -is also present in the newborn daughter. It is a special place - a place that connects us to the Father like nothing else can. A 𝘀𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 all its own. Perhaps, the separation wasn't about the inferiority of woman and daughter but about the sacredness of them. Did you know that a female baby in the womb, is already beginning to develop her eggs and at peak development is around 20 weeks in the womb with about 7 million eggs! Yet not all eggs survive. At birth, the female will only have about 1-2 million eggs left. So even as the daughter is full of life, as she is growing in the womb, there is also a death happening. How crazy is that?!?!? And because of the estrogen from the Mom, sometimes daughters who are born can have a 'fake menstrual cycle', as their womb sheds the extra layers built up by those hormones. I never knew that.

So with this info in mind, now I see that the purification process isn't just for the mom in this case, it is for the daughter as well. Both 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 unclean for a longer period as their bodies, once in perfect sync with life and death happening at the same time, coming back to a place of individual rhythms. The Temple was all about life - death is the opposite of that, and as such, has no place there. Wow.

Which leads us to portion #2 for this week. After learning about the women giving birth, we then begin the journey to learning about those who become [ritually] 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 because of a skin condition called, "𝗧𝘇𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗮𝘁", often mistranslated as Leper. The person with this condition was also not allowed to participate in the Temple happenings, and often was made to stay outside the camp, alone, isolated until a Priest could determine they were now 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 from this disease. It is interesting to note that many say this disease, was as close to 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 as someone could be without actually being dead. Interesting, as we often hear the same about childbirth! But there was something even more bizarre about this particular disease - it could infect clothes and the walls of houses!! Talk about there being nowhere to hide! 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱!! Shew. No wonder they wanted the person to stay outside the camp! [There is a lot I could say in relation to this when we look at the spreading of apostasy in the church, but I will stop there....for now]

This particular plague is believed to be a warning from the LORD. A visible sign of an inward condition. Just as sin starts small and begins to spread, so too this disease. The only one who could heal this disease was the LORD Himself. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀!! One commentator noted that this was significant in how Yeshua responded to John's disciples, who came to ask him if He was indeed the One they were looking for. Luke 7:22, "𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, “𝘎𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥: 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬, 𝒕𝙝𝒆 𝒍𝙚𝒑𝙚𝒓𝙨 𝙖𝒓𝙚 𝙘𝒍𝙚𝒂𝙣𝒔𝙚𝒅, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. " Our only hope for the 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗻, showed His power of it by cleansing lepers! I never made that connection before. Shew. Thank you, LORD!!

Oh friends, there is so much beauty in His Word, and so much we could learn from! Now we must ask ourselves, "has the LORD been trying to get my attention with something that I missed?" And also be prepared to watch for it in the future! He LOVES US, so He warns us!! We must watch for the signs!!

As I finish up this weeks study, I just want to share one last thought. I have always seen the stark contrast between life and death - I mean that is pretty simple, right? But what I never did was take the time to look closely at where they aren't completely separated and instead one actually gives way to another. Sin is death. Obedience is life. Are you living? To Him belongs the glory, forever and ever, Amen!! #Torah #theVoice #awakeningfire #narrowway #ancientpath #listenandobey #life

𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 [𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂], 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 [𝗼𝗯𝗲𝘆𝘀] 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆 [𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱/𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲] 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁𝘆 [𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁/𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻] 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 ·𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 [𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲]. 𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 [𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂], 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ·𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 [𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿] 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 ·𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 [𝗼𝗯𝗲𝘆] 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 ·𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 [𝗼𝗯𝗲𝘆] 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 [𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲]. 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝟱:𝟮𝟰-𝟮𝟱 𝗘𝗫𝗕