ELTB CC 10-11
The people on the stage were not allowed to eat the flying things with only four legs. And they were not allowed to touch their dead bodies. [1] When God gave them the script for the play, or the law, he used puns and riddles like a little child. His wisdom seems foolish to those who think they are wise. [2]
The word ‘touch’ also means ‘strike’ in Hebrew. The religious rulers and the Romans beat Jesus before he was hung on the cross. When the evening came, the soldiers beat the other two men on crosses to break their legs. But Jesus had been been made to be sin. He was an abomination like the dead bugs. Since he was already dead, they did not strike him again. [3]
The evening is the symbol of the cross where grace meets judgement. The sins of man are covered by the death of the Son. In the play, whoever needs forgiveness is unclean until the evening, we are unclean until we come to the cross for forgiveness. [4]
- touch, strike naga נגע - ‘son of man נ pursuing ג the flesh ע’
- evening ‘ereb ערב - mix
- evening arab ערב - exchange
According to the script, if any of the actors carried the dead body of any of the unclean animals mentioned, they had to wash their clothes and they were considered unclean until the evening. [5] What could God be trying to tell us through these symbols?
Let’s see what some of the words mean:
- carry, lift up nasa נשא - ‘forget נש Jehovah א’
- clothes - always represents works
- washing - evaluate your works by the teaching of the word [6]
- day yowm יום - holiness, ‘creation י explained by ו the finished work of the son ם’
- evening - the cross where judgement (holiness represented by light) changes to mercy (love represented by darkness)
- night lil ליל - love, ‘creation י surrounded by teaching or the shared heart of God ל’
- morning, seek, ox baqar בקר - resurrection, ‘son bar בר who died and rose from the dead ק’
- sun shemash שמש - ‘the increase of the word ש x2 with the heart of the promise of the father מ’ or ‘the reputation שמ of the marriage ש’
- moon yareach ירח - God’s י revelation ר understood ח (Christ as God on earth)
Whoever brags about doing the things the dietary law told us not to do needs forgiveness offered by Jesus through the cross. They are considered unclean, or not good teachers until they have received forgiveness. They must repent, or reconsider what they did and agree with God that it was wrong. This is ‘waiting until the evening’.
