Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 2023: The Secret To Understanding The Covenant

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I have titled this Torah Portion “The Secret To Understanding The Covenant” but, really, there is no secret if you have the ability to see. Understanding of the covenant is simply hidden from the blind.

This week’s Torah Portion begins with YHVH instructing Aaron, through Moses, about the requirements for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement was given to Israel because of YHVH’s mercy to Israel for the treason against YHVH with the golden calf. Treason always results in automatic death. Then why didn’t YHVH kill Israel instead of listening to Moses’ intercession in Exodus 32? It is because YHVH is merciful and His mercy endures forever.

However, His mercy requires a couple of things. First, there still must be a death for the treason. This is why 2 goats are selected and one dies while the other goes free. And second, YHVH built into His covenant with mankind a way to express His mercy. Yes, YHVH’s mercy is built into His covenant with man, from the very beginning, before the foundation of the world was laid. He created a legal structure called “covenant” which included redemption, and redemption leads to salvation.

Before we understand the covenant and YHVH’s method of dealing with man within the covenant, let’s first see the restriction put on Aaron because of his leading Israel into treason with the golden calf which he made.

Lev 16:2  and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother, not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die: for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat. 

Aaron cannot enter, cannot have the level of relationship that he would have had if he had not led the Israelites into treason. He is forbidden to enter into the Holy of Holies at just anytime. He is now restricted from contact with YHVH except on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. In modern legal terms, this is an “arms-length” relationship. And it is a relationship that will continue at arm’s length in the future.

Eze 44:10  “‘“But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. 
Eze 44:11  Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. 
Eze 44:12  Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel. Therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and they will bear their iniquity. 
Eze 44:13  They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 
Eze 44:14  Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that will be done therein. 

Crimes against YHVH, i.e. sins, have consequences.

Lev 16:3 says Aaron will enter the sanctuary with a bull calf for his sin offering every year. This is Aaron’s and his descendants’ annual atonement for the golden calf. Aaron and his line will have their atonement for leading Israel into treason and the Israelites will have their atonement, also on the same day. YHVH did not permanently forgive that sin until Yeshua died.

Also, Aaron does not go into the Holy of Holies wearing the High Priest’s breastplate. Lev 16:4 says he wears only the linen coat, breeches, sash and turban. His glory before YHVH is stripped from him.

I said treason always requires a death penalty but YHVH did not destroy Israel. So, someone else has to die. Here is where we find out who must die for Israel’s treason.

Lev 16:8  Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 
Lev 16:9  Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering. 
Lev 16:10  But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away as the scapegoat into the wilderness. 

Let’s understand why Yeshua had to die for Israel by going to Genesis 15 where YHVH is answering Abram’s question about how he will know he will inherit the land YHVH had brought him to. His other question was about who would inherit the land after him? Eliezer, his servant? The promise YHVH made to Abram was that his descendants would be so many that their number would be like the number of the stars in the sky, and because there would be so many, they would inherit the land.

YHVH answered Abram’s question by making a covenant but not one with Abram. Starting at Genesis 15:9, YHVH told Abram to bring a heifer 3 years old, a female goat, 3 years old, a ram 3 years old, a turtledove and a pigeon. Abram brought them and split the cattle while leaving the birds whole. He laid the split animal sides opposite each other in preparation for what is called the “covenant of the pieces”.

This is the most serious covenant anyone can make because it requires the death of the one who breaks it. The covenant of the pieces is a covenant with death! The account says that YHVH put Abram in a trance. Abram was not going to make this covenant with death. Someone else was going to walk through those pieces! Who was it? It was the God of Abraham who would walk through those pieces, the God who, in Genesis 15:7 said He was the God that brought Abram out of Ur! HE would walk through those pieces.

Gen 15:17  It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 

Who is the smoking furnace and who is the flaming torch that moved between those pieces to make this covenant with death? YHVH Elohim! The Father and the Son. The consequences of this covenant promise is that if Abram’s descendants break the covenant, God Himself will die!

Right here is YHVH’s mercy built into the covenant with Abraham!

That goat in Leviticus 16:8 which was marked for YHVH and offered by Israel’s High Priest every year prophesied the fulfillment of the promise to Abram that God would die if Abram’s descendants broke the covenant. How might they break the covenant? By their rebellion! Rebellion against what? YHVH’s Law!

You see, Abraham kept YHVH’s law. To Isaac, YHVH said:

Gen 26:4  I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed, 
Gen 26:5  because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 

Abraham was a law keeper! That is why Abraham was able to get so close to God that God called Abraham “friend”.

Jas 2:23  and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;” and he was called the friend of God.

But Abraham’s descendants, starting with Aaron, did not obey YHVH’s Law. They rebelled against the covenant of YHVH from the ordination of Israel and are doing so to this day with their religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam!

Which covenant is being referred to when people say the covenant was broken? We are studying in Leviticus 16 the result of a broken covenant but which covenant did Aaron break? The obvious answer is that he broke the Mosaic covenant which contains the Law of YHVH but that is only partially correct. The Mosaic covenant is only one part of a greater covenant.

There are not many covenants. There is only one covenant but it has many parts. This covenant was created before the foundation of the world. How do I know this?

Hos 6:7  But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there. 

Hosea is talking about the House of Israel who had broken YHVH’s covenant and here says that Adam also broke it. But wait! Adam lived about 2,500 years before Moses. How could Adam have broken the covenant with Moses? Hosea is not talking about the Mosaic covenant. He is talking about a covenant that YHVH made with mankind from the foundation of the earth. Each of its named parts is simply an amendment of this greater covenant.

The greater covenant existed before the earth was created. That covenant was not made WITH man, it was made FOR man. Its later additions were made with mankind and Israel. The greater foundational is a covenant with mercy built in so that YHVH can amend it each time man breached it. Each amendment is called “covenant” but none of them stand alone. They are all part of the greater foundational covenant. However, more weight is given to two of the covenant – those with Abraham and Moses – because of YHVH’s nation called Israel.

So, there is only one covenant between God and man which creates the flexible framework for YHVH to work out His plan to have man as part of His Kingdom. The result is that YHVH adds provisions, called “covenants”, within the greater covenant framework when man breaks any of the added covenant parts and the original and greater foundational covenant.

The Hebrew word for “covenant” is:

H1285
בּרית
berı̂yth
ber-eeth’

From H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh): – confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant, league.

This word is a composite of:

H1254
בּרא
bârâ’
baw-raw’

A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): – choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

…And…

H1262
בּרה
bârâh
baw-raw’

A primitive root; to select; also (as denominative from H1250) to feed; also (as equivalent to H1305) to render clear (Ecc_3:18): – choose, (cause to) eat, manifest, (give) meat.

Beriyth involves cutting of something – animals split in half, foreskin and, figuratively, the heart. Bara with no ‘h’ means to create through cutting down and it means to select. Barah – with an ‘h’ – means to select and to feed. In the Day of Atonement, one entity, which formerly had walked through the pieces, was selected and cut down. The other entity which never walked through those cut pieces was selected and fed. You should now be getting the idea that beriyth – covenant – is for the purpose of selection. Either you are selected for cutting down, destruction, or you are selected for feeding, nurturing.

Here is where the rubber meets the road for the treason Israel committed against YHVH. Only God can make permanent atonement for Israel. There is a cost for the redemption by mankind. Goats cannot make permanent atonement for Israel. God came and died for Israel to make permanent atonement for Israel. His name is Yeshua! Those who say Yeshua is not God are fools! About 2,000 years after God the Father and God the Son walked through those pieces as the smoking furnace and the flaming torch, Yeshua had His won flesh ripped from His body when He was beaten with the scrouge. This is another clear sign of who He is!

In the covenant with Moses, Passover and Yom Kippur mark the redemption and elevation of Israel so that Israel can serve YHVH by bringing the nations to Him.

Let’s get some more information about the covenant that was created before the foundation of the world so we can see how YHVH responds to its breakage. One principle of breaking the greater covenant, by breaking one of its parts, is that there is a consequence to man just as there was to Aaron and all Israel. Along with seeing the consequences, though, we will also see YHVH’s mercy toward man.

Adam was the first to break YHVH’s greater covenant. Adam’s punishment was hard labor. Eve’s was sorrow in rearing children. The result of this is that Adam’s punishment affects every human and Eve’s fallen condition affects all women.

But Adam’s penalty also came with the promise of a Messiah to restore the earth and mankind back to its original pure state. This promise shows us that YHVH renewed His greater covenant with Adam when He doled out Adam and Eve’s consequences.

The greater covenant was renewed after the flood’s destruction in Noah’s time. The covenant with Noah was given a token sign of a rainbow as a promise that the earth would never again be destroyed with water. The Noahic covenant is a renewal of the greater covenant. YHVH had decided to continue with His greater covenant which He made before the foundation of the world.

Here is something interesting about the Noahic covenant. There is no mention of a coming Messiah. There are hints of the Messiah within the story but no express prophecy of a Messiah to come. This is because the Noahic covenant is a full renewal of all creation for which the token of the rainbow was given.

Gen 9:12  God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 
Gen 9:13  I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 

You see, “every living creature” cannot be redeemed by the Messiah. This is why Noah’s covenant does not mention the coming Messiah as did the former Adamic covenant. But notice that man still tilled the ground after the flood. The principle of this is that none of the provisions of the covenants will go away until all of them have been fulfilled.

And there is something else. The prophecy of Noah’s covenant has not yet been fulfilled because the final destruction of the earth has not yet happened. Its fulfillment will come when the earth is destroyed by fire.

The next provision within the greater covenant was the covenant made with Abram in which he was given the promise that YHVH intended to create a nation for Himself from Abram’s descendants. This is where the beriyth, the cutting and selecting, was added. Just like Noah had to prepare his part in order to achieve the covenant, so Abram also had to prepare the animals so YHVH could walk through them.

Now we come to the Mosaic covenant. It is not a stand-alone covenant. It is part B of the Abrahamic covenant but was separated by 430 years until such time as Abraham’s descendants numbered as many stars as are in the sky. The Abrahamic covenant cannot be fulfilled without the Law of Moses to govern Abraham’s descendants. Just like Abraham obeyed YHVH’s Law, so are Abraham’s people to do the same. And it is within the Mosaic covenant that we begin to see “if” statements.

Starting with Israel, we begin to see that YHVH’s people now have a greater role in upholding the greater covenant through the giving of, the formalizing of, YHVH’s Law. Why? Because YHVH has now fulfilled His promise to Abraham regarding his descendants inheriting the land. Also, YHVH must elevate Abraham’s descendants above all the people of the earth because YHVH was bringing His Kingdom to the earth and this involves teaching YHVH’s Law to the Gentiles. “If” we want YHVH’s Kingdom, we must obey His Law, both then and now.

An “if” statement creates a condition wherein those who want to benefit from the covenant and who want to remain in covenant with YHVH, must perform on their side. The first covenantal condition with an “if you” statement occurs with the creation of the nation of Israel with the Mosaic addition to the greater foundational covenant.

Exo 15:26  And said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.” 

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine.

Lev 26:3  “‘If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 
Lev 26:4  then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 
Lev 26:5  Your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 
Lev 26:6  “‘I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one will make you afraid. I will remove evil animals out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 
Lev 26:7  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 
Lev 26:8  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 
Lev 26:9  “‘I will have respect for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. 
Lev 26:10  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new. 
Lev 26:11  I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. 
Lev 26:12  I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people. 
Lev 26:13  I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright. 

Up to now, it was YHVH doing the heavy lifting. In the Adamic covenant, YHVH promised a Messiah and gave Adam and Eve consequences but no further promises in exchange for keeping the Law. The Noahic covenant contains the promise that YHVH will never destroy the earth by water again but there was no further promises given “if” Noah and his sons kept the Law. The covenant with Abraham contains the promise of a son to carry on Abraham’s name but there was no requirement for Abraham to keep the Law in order to obtain further promises for his life. The “if” statements begin with the ordination of Israel.

Israel broke the Mosaic part of the greater covenant at Mount Sinai and continued breaking it until now! Even after Yeshua came and explained HOW to keep the Mosaic covenant, Christians, Jews and Muslims continue breaking the covenant with their religious law and teaching that the Torah is not what should be done. Paul calls those how disobey YHVH’s law “covenant breakers” in Romans 1:31.

Know this. And this is why I am teaching about the greater, foundational covenant with its many additional covenants today. This information ties into this Torah Portion because it is more serious for Aaron to have committed treason than it was for Adam to have committed his sin. It is more serious for those who call themselves by the name of Abraham to commit sin than it was for Adam and Eve. The further mankind moves forward in time with full knowledge of the greater covenant, the greater will be the punishment of mankind.

People will say that mankind today does not understand YHVH’s greater foundational covenant or its many parts so It can’t be fair that YHVH will punish man for not knowing. That is wrong-headed thinking! We are held responsible for what we could have known but failed to look into. If we die in our unintentional sins without ever having taken advantage of the forgiveness provided in the Mosaic Law, we will still go to hell! We will not enter the Kingdom. All of mankind, each individual, is responsible to YHVH whether he wants to be or not.

Yeshua fulfilled the Adamic Messiah promise by becoming the second Adam because that is where the first breach of the greater foundational covenant began. Now, with the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, in Leviticus 16 we have an addition to both the greater foundational covenant and the Mosaic that is within the greater foundational covenant. Yeshua will now need to come as the goat which is sacrificed for the sin of Israel. Yeshua – the second Adam AND the goat. The goat typified what YHVH thought of His people!

The next covenant within the greater covenant is the covenant with David. This provision promised David there would always be a King from among His descendants to sit on the throne of Israel. But within the Davidic covenant is another “if” statement. The “if” statement is specific to the descendants of David who will inherit his throne. The “if” statement again says that whoever will inherit David’s throne forever must be one who perfectly obeys YHVH’s Law.

David’s amendment was broken by his son, Solomon. That breach shattered united Israel into 2 nations and now prevents Solomon and all of his descendants from ever sitting on David’s throne.

Jeremiah said there would be another covenant.

Jer 31:31  “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 
Jer 31:32  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh. 
Jer 31:33  “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

This one has been erroneously called the “new” covenant. It is not new but a restoration of the broken greater foundational covenant which was broken through Mosaic covenant.

This time there is no “if” statement. This renewed covenant which was fulfilled when Yeshua became the second Adam and the Yom Kippur goat at the same time, simply says “Israel WILL obey My Law” because I will write it on the hearts of the people.

Israel had proven to be unworthy of both the greater and Mosaic covenants, so the former Israel was cut off and a renewed and restored Israel was selected. Where did this renewed and restored Israel come from? From the death and resurrection of Yeshua. He restored Israel’s position as a holy nation before His Father. Yeshua’s death did not do away with any of the former covenants. In fact, the covenant that YHVH’s people reject is the Mosaic covenant which promises that Yeshua would come to die for them after they committed treason against Him! Isn’t it odd that YHVH’s own people reject the promise of being redeemed and restored! If we say the “old” Mosaic covenant was done away, we also do away with the promise made within the Mosaic covenant of One to come who will die like that goat! Literally, they don’t understand that they are rejecting YHVH’s salvation when they reject His Law!

There is another covenant yet to come. It was already inherited by one Israelite.

Num 25:11  “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. 
Num 25:12  Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. 

Interestingly, this covenant is inherited by those who are zealous for the Law which most Christians reject!

The point and the secret of the greater covenant is that there is only one covenant but it has been amended by YHVH who adds additional covenant clauses because of His mercy toward man. The one greater foundational covenant created by YHVH before He created the world is still intact.

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is:

Lev 16:31  It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.
Lev 16:32  The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father’s place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments. 
Lev 16:33  Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 
Lev 16:34  “This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” It was done as Yahweh commanded Moses. 

There is one more important point. Notice that YHVH is the author of the greater foundational covenant and all of the additional covenants. It is true that YHVH can and does add to the covenants but He does not change the Law. He is the only one authorized to add to the greater covenant.

Also notice, though, that when YHVH adds to the greater foundational covenant, He never retracts anything he promises.

Rom 11:29  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

The additional covenants are gifts of mercy from YHVH to us and these mercies endure forever. By the end of the age, all of the additions will have become part of the greater foundational covenant from before the creation of the earth.

Why is it important for us to understand all of this information about the covenant? It is because there is only one Kingdom and the greater covenant with its many parts is still only one covenant. And when we talk about breaking the Law, it is really that we are breaking the greater foundational covenant, the big one, by breaking one of the covenant insertions within the greater covenant. We break the foundational one, the one that will governs ALL of YHVH’s Kingdom.

Psa 106:1  Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

Be Blessed!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown
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Kimberly Rogers-Brown has been teaching Torah and special Bible topics since 2008. She is also the author and publisher of Beast Watch News dot com and is heard internationally via two radio programs on Hebrew Nation Radio. Kimberly now lives in Aqaba, Jordan close to the Exodus wilderness area where the Bride (i.e. "the woman" of Revelation 12:6) will flee for 1260 days of the Great Tribulation.