Parashat Emor

Parashat Emor is all about Priesthood and the Sacred festivals. This Torah portion is from Leviticus 21:1–24:23. The priests were appointed to be the custodians of spiritual life among the community. They had to be set apart and had many rules to follow. One of them was not to defile themselves by being with the dead. This on the surface looks like very stringent but the Lord was specifying a principle of the “illusion of death”. The priests had to spend time in imparting life and not being stuck with the idea of death.

They had to remember that the anointing oil had fallen on their head and they were responsible. Marriage had to be sacrosanct and offerings had to be without any defect. The priests had to have the highest ethical standards and had to be a blessing.

The Lord expected His people to celebrate the festivals of the Lord. The seven festivals reminded the people of whom they belonged and how the Lord expected His people to be together in one place rejoicing, like how a father would love to see his children together.We as NT believers should have an eye on these times and seasons.

The table of the showbread was a significant furniture in the Holy place. It represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Lechem panim, which literally means the “bread of the face”.The Talmud explains that 12 loaves of lechem panim were set out in 2 equal rows for the entire week until Shabbat, when they were replaced by freshly baked loaves. The old loaves belonged to the kohanim, the priests who would eat them within the sacred places at the Temple mount.

The freshness of the bread existed through the week. The Torah ends with the story of a blasphemer -an egyptian who had a jewish wife had a son. This shows there was a mixed culture among the Israelites. They had Egyptian customs inside and had surrounding nations and their culture and God, through the Torah was elevating His people to heights to which He wanted them to be.