1S2-39: Have You Removed The CHAMETZ From Your Life This PESACH?

“A man of God came
to ‘Eli and told him,
‘Here is what Adonai says:
‘Didn’t I reveal myself to
your ancestor’s clan
when they were in Egypt,
serving as slaves in
Pharaoh’s household?'”
-1 Samuel 2:27

The day of reckoning for Eli had arrived.

The ISH ELOHIM or “man of God” approached him and said:

“Here is what Adonai says”…

This means every part of the message to follow were the exact words from the mouth of the Almighty Himself.

The Lord starts off by telling Eli that He visited his clan (the clan of Aaron) about 400 years ago in Egypt….

And that He elected his clan to be His priests.

Along with this honor came the privilege of being able to approach the brazen altar, burn incense before the Lord and wear the ritual vest which signified Eli belonged to the line of high priests.

The Lord goes on to say that even the very meat and produce that fed Eli’s family came from the same sacrifices offered up to Him.

In other words, in His amazing grace, the Lord shared His holy food with them.

In verse 29, God then asked Eli…

“So why are you showing such disrespect
for my sacrifices and offerings,
which I ordered to be made at my dwelling?”

The phrase “sacrifices and offerings” deserves close examination.

The original Hebrew here is ZEVAH and MINCHAH.

Recall this is a literary device we call a merism.

The idea is to express the totality of a matter.

It’s like saying from A to Z.

We’re referring to not just the letters A and Z but to all 24 letters in between as well.

ZEVAH refers to the meat sacrifices and MINCHAH refers to the produce or plant life sacrifices.

But again, this phrase is not just referring to the meat and produce sacrifices.

It’s referring to every aspect of the Lord’s holy dwelling place and every element of the sacrificial system.

This point is further driven home by the fact that the word ZEVAH is a male gender noun…

And the word MINCHAH is a female gender noun.

In other words, verse 29 could be correctly be rewritten to say something like…

“Why have you spit upon every part of my holy sanctuary, my sacrificial system and my rituals?”

Oh man, Eli is in hot water now and there will be no escaping…

We’ll continue on with this the next time we meet…

But let’s stop here for a quick takeaway.

I don’t know about you but I felt convicted in my heart after writing today’s post.

I feel like I need to ask myself…

Have I disrespected the Lord and spat on His commands by not trusting and obeying Him?

Have I chosen to worship money, sex or other worldly things in place of the Lord?

Have I fully trusted in Him for every aspect of my well being whether it be financial, physical or spiritual?

Or have I allowed strange fire to enter His Holy Dwelling Place?

I’m writing this during the week of Passover.

This is a time when we are commanded to clean every room of our homes so that all “chametz”, or leavened products, are removed.

Why are we commanded to remove CHAMETZ?

Because it represents that which corrupts the purity of the Lord.

Just as even a small lump of leaven can infect a batch of dough, so can a tiny lump of “spiritual leaven” corrupt our soul.

It’s this yeast in the soul that eventually grows to become idolatrous desires and lusts.

Ya feel me?

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Your boasting is not good.
Don’t you know that a little yeast
leavens the whole batch of dough?
Therefore, purge out the old leaven,
that you may be a new lump
since you truly are unleavened.
And the truth is Passover is ours!
Messiah was killed.
Therefore, let us keep the feast
not with old leaven
nor with the leaven of
malice and wickedness
but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth.”
1 Corinthians 5:6-8