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31 ‘Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat was removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar for a soothing aroma to Yãhweh. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and it is forgiven for him.

(MISB: Lev. 4:31): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#4:31

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

1. The text says, “And it is forgiven for him.” The form of the verb is niphal perfect נִסְלַח = “be’eth forgiven”. The waw does not “convert” the meaning to imperfect, i.e. וְנִסְלַח ≠ “it shall be forgiven”. The offering is given in payment of the penalty of the sin of ignorance. Therefore, the penalty has to be considered “paid”. Young’s Literal translation has it right, “and it hath been forgiven him”. The teaching of the Torah here concerning the sins of ignorance stands in opposition to the theological speculations of the Church, which constantly overstates the liminations of the Levitical service so as to reject it entirely.

15 ‘Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten in the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it until morning¹.

(MISB: Lev. 7:15): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#7:15

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

1. When it comes to the eating of sacrificial offerings the day is defined as “a day and a night”, that is from daybreak to daybreak. Rashi acknowledges this in his commentary. The Rabbis set the limit of eating the offering at midnight because they did not want anyone to get too close to the limit at daybreak. This rule applies to the Passover offering on the 14th of Nisan, to the Exodus offering on the 15th of Nisan, and to the wave sheaf offering on the 16th of Nisan, i.e. the animials offered with it, and to the fact that Yahweh’s portion of the offering burned on the altar all night, and was not removed until daybreak. So these offerings are a type of Messiah and his three days and three nights in the grave. A day and a night for the passover offering; a day and a night for the Exodus offering; and a day and a night for the wave sheaf offering. So with respect to Messiah’s three days and three nights—they are counted from daybreak to daybreak just like for offerings in the Temple.

This is what Yãhweh has commanded, saying, 3 “Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, or a lamb, or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp¹, 4 and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting² to present it as an offering to Yãhweh before the tabernacle³ of Yãhweh, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people.ª

(MISB: Lev. 17:3-4): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#17:3

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

1. In the latter days the “camp” is Israel and “outside the camp” is beyond the border of Israel in the nations.

2. In the latter days, the “tent of meeting” became the Temple. That is the tent of meeting was replaced by the Temple. The intent of the legislation remains valid.

3. i.e. the Temple

a. Does a journey away from Israel or exile suspend this commandment for the sons of Israel? Numbers 9:10, 13 show that offering Passover away from the Sanctuary was not allowed, otherwise the journey would not have been an issue. Deut. 16:5-6 repeats the prohibition. Deut. 12:13-16 repeats the ban and allows only slaughtering for common food. Hosea 3:4-5 says Israel will bear the punishment of their iniquity without sacrifice (cf. Lev 26:43). Jewish example suggests not. The Limitation to Levites of sacrificial service says no (Num. 18:23); they will bear the iniquity of mistakes, and Levites are not available in the exile. Joshua 22:10-12 show that building any competing altar is a cause for war. The only place of sacrifice is the one place Yahweh chooses to put His name, and that is Jerusalem (1Ki 8:16). The Samaritans presumed to sacrifice on their own, but Yeshua rejected their worship, saying they worshiped, “that which you do not know” (John 4:22), and their worship was a thorn in the side of Judah.

30 ‘You shall keep my sabbaths and revere¹ my sanctuary; I am Yãhweh.

(MISB: Lev. 19:30): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#19:30

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

1. or “be in awe of”, “respect”, “fear”, “honor” ( תִּירָאוּ) < root יָרָא. In Revelation 11:1, even the “tribulation” Temple is called “The Temple of Gõd”, but the “gentiles” (which word means “pagans” here) will trample the holy city for 42 months.

11 ‘And he shall wave the sheaf before Yãhweh for you to be accepted; in the day after the ceasing¹ the priest shall wave it.

(MISB: Lev. 23:11): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#23:11

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

1. The word שַׁבָּת truly means “cessation” or “ceasing” (שֹׁבֵת). This is the literal sense to one who understands Hebrew, which is lost to the English reader. In this place it is critical to understanding the count to Shavuot to have it litterally. “The ceasing” is the ceasing from leaven on the first day of unleavened bread in Exodus 12:15, which text the reader should see to understand that the sheaf is waved in the day after the first day of the feast. The MISB is not the first bible to render this text literally. Other Jewish bibles have “rest day” to explain the same thing, that the rest day of the first day of the feast is meant, but this is less literal than “the ceasing”, which ties in perfectly with Exodus 12:15.

15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves in the time to comeª after the ceasing¹, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven² complete³ Sabbaths. 16 ‘Yet in the time to comeº after the seventh Sabbath you are counting a fiftieth day; then you shall present a new grain offering to Yãhweh.

(MISB: Lev. 23:11): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#23:15

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

a. The Hebrew מִמָּחֳרַת means “in the day after” in the most literal sense, but here it is an idiom for “in the time after”. The same idiom can be seen in Gen. 30:33, בְּיוֹם־מָחָר in an uncontracted form. Hebrew usage elsewhere shows that מָחָר means “time to come”. This meaning is required in this text because seven Sabbaths cannot be counted in one literal day. The idiomatic meaning of “time to come” or “time after” is thus required.

1. The Hebrew here is הַשַּׁבָּת or הַשֹּׁבֵת. It refers to the “ceasing” in vs. 11 and back to Exodus 12:15, where for the first day of the feast one is to “make cease” the leaven, and also cease from work: תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ. The counting, thus, begins after the first day of the feast.

2. Not seven “weeks” as the word sabbath never means “week” before AD 135, but “seven sabbaths”: שֶׁבַע־שַׁבָּתוֹת. That seven sabbaths were counted is clear from the resurrection accounts, where Messiah is raised, “on the first of the Sabbaths” = בְּאַחַת־הַשַּׁבָּתוֹת.

3. The word “complete” (תְּמִימֹת) signifies weekly sabbaths as opposed to feast sabbaths, which is to say the seventh day of unleavened bread should not be counted, but only the weekly sabbaths following the first day of the feast. All seven have to be completed before the feast of Shavuot. Also “complete” shows us that each sabbath completes a week. This is what a “perfect” sabbath is as opposed to a feast day sabbath. Feast day sabbaths do not “complete” in that sense. This refutes the Rabbis who want to translate the word שַׁבָּתוֹת to mean “weeks” and then make them broken weeks, i.e. not corresponding to the real weekly cycle.

o. As in vs. 15 the Hebrew מִמָּחֳרַת means “in the time to come” because in this case the 50th day may fall anywhere from one day to seven days after the seventh Sabbath. The contraction מִמָּחֳרַת is shortened from מִן־יוֹם־אַחַר־ת, which = “in day after of”, where “day” is used as in Gen. 2:4 to mean a period of time lasting a week. Once it is realized that “in the time after the Sabbath” does not automatically mean the first day of the week, the Karaite interpretation looses its proof text. And then the Karaite argument is finally silenced by the fact that Yeshua rose from the dead “on the first of the sabbaths (בְּאַחַת־הַשַּׁבָּתוֹת). Whatever any human motives are for the Sadducean/Karaite error, Satan’s motives are to glorify Sunday and to confuse the times and seasons of scripture.

32 It is to be a Sabbath¹ of total cessation² to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at the settingª, from setting onward to setting you shall keep your Sabbath³.

(MISB: Lev. 23:32): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/leviticus.html#23:32

(Link to MISB: http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

1. The Church and the Karaites have something in common. They argue that “Sabbath” never means a feast day, and always means the weekly Sabbath. But Yom Kippur(im) is not a weekly Sabbath. Nevertheless, it is still called “Sabbath” שַׁבַּת two times in the same verse! The Hebrew for Sabbath means “ceasing” or “cessation”, and does not specifically mean the seventh day. It is also used for the sabbatical and Jubilee year, and is used in Lev. 23:11 and 15, and John 19:31, Luke 23:54, 23:56, and Mark 16:1 to designate a feast day Sabbath that was not the seventh day of the week.

2. Sometimes much ado is made of the fact that festival days are called, “Shabbaton” שַׁבָּתוֹן. This word is simply the regular word for Sabbath with an intensifier ending on it: וֹן (which means “complete” or “total”). This word is not a special separate word for annual Sabbaths. This is proved because it is used for the weekly Sabbath in Lev. 23:3: שַׁבַּת־שַׁבָּתוֹן exactly like it is used here for Yom Kippur(im). So Hebrew teaches us that both “Shabbat” and “Shabbat-on” can be used for annual Sabbaths and weekly Sabbaths.

3. The word “Sabbath” really means “cessation”. An examination of the verb root will show this. There is a difference between translation (trans LA tion) and transliteration (trans LIT er A tion). Transliteration only copies the sounds of a foreign word. Translation gives the meaning of the word. “Shabbat” or “Sabbath” is transliteration. It tries to give the form and sound of the word, but it does not give the meaning of the word. The meaning is “rest day” or more precisely, “ceassation” or “ceasing”. Do not let Karaites deceive you with by the artifice of assigning their own meaning to the transliterated word “Sabbath, Shabbat”, which they will often imply means only the seventh day. This deception is based on ignorance of the Hebrew meaning. In fact to translate all occurrences of “Shabbat” as “cessation” would be quite correct, but it is better to leave it “Sabbath” or “Shabbat” and most cases and teach people the actual meaning. The Karaite argument in Lev. 23:11, 15 only holds water if you forget what the word really means.

a. Why does the text say 9th day? Why doesn’t it just simply say 10th day and make it must simpler? After all the 10th day is from sunset to sunset. So what is the big deal here? This text shows, among other things, that “setting” (עֶרֶב) is normally applied to sunset ending the daytime part of a day. So then “setting” would not refer to the sunset starting the night before the 9th day. It would refer to sunset at the end of the day part of the 9th day. The reason for this way of stating the matter, “on the ninth day of the month at setting” is because in ancient Israel before the Assyrian exile, the regular day was reckoned from daybreak to daybreak, and not from sunset to sunset. Sunset reckoning was confined to Sabbaths before the exile. Everything else, including Temple offerings used a daybreak to daybreak day. So to say, “on the ninth day of the month at setting” is very precise; for there is only one setting “ON the ninth day” so reckoned according to daybreak, and that is the setting in the middle of the calendar day—the setting at the end of the day part of the day. The Hebrew Lexicon TWOT explains this pre-exilic on page 694, vol. II, under the heading for “ ‘ereb”.