Almost since the Garden, the righteous have offered up sacrifices to YHWH Elohim. For example, Qayin (Cain) and Hevel (Abel) both offered sacrifices to YHWH; yet we are told that YHWH did not respect Qayin’s offering, while He did respect Hevel’s offering.

 

 

Some say YHWH rejected Qayin’s offering because He wanted meat. However, YHWH asks for grain and flour offerings many times, so we know that grain offerings are desirable. Further, as we saw in ‘The Torah Calendar’, Yeshua is a type of the firstfruits of barley (and was raised on the Day of Firstfruits).

 

 

Perhaps YHWH favored Hevel’s offering in that while Qayin simply brought ‘an’ offering, Hevel gave of the first born of his flock, and their fat. The word ‘fat’ in Hebrew here is “khelev’khen” (חֶלְבֵהֶן) which means the richest or choicest part.

 

 

Hevel’s offering was pleasing not because he brought meat, but because his heart was right. There is a huge difference making ‘an’ offering, and intentionally giving back the first and the finest of what one has to YHWH. Hevel’s actions showed, in a way that nothing else really could, that He was truly a servant, putting YHWH even before himself. If this is the heart-attitude that YHWH is looking for in a bride, do we have it?

 

Next began the era of the priesthoods. As we will see, the priesthood changes back and forth between the Melchizedekian and the Levitical. Long before the Levitical Priesthood was ordained, Avram (who was later called Avraham) gave a tenth of all to a priest named Melchizedek.

 

 

Two generations later, Yaakov (Israel) vowed to give Elohim a tenth of all his increase, as long as YHWH would give him food to eat and clothing to wear, be his Elohim, keep him in the Way he was going, and bring him back to the Land of Israel in peace.

 

 

Isn’t that what we want, is for Elohim to give us our daily bread, clothing to wear, to be our Elohim, to keep us in the Way we are going and to bring us back to the land of Israel in peace? Isn’t that also what Yeshua tells us to pray for, in the Avinu (Yeshua’s Prayer)?

 

It helps to remember that although the Levitical Order cannot function without a tabernacle or temple, the Melchizedekian Order can. This is one advantage of Yeshua being ordained as our High Priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek (rather than the Order of Levi).

 

 

Had Yeshua been ordained as our High Priest after the Order of Levi, then He would not be able to serve as our High Priest during times when the Temple is not standing. However, as our Melchizedekian High Priest in the heavenly realms, He is able to serve as our High Priest even when the earthly temple lies in ruins (such as now).

 

It is also important that Yeshua be our High Priest in the heavenlies rather than our High Priest on earth, for as we explain in the Post-Millennial Return study, there will soon come a day when our Jewish brothers accept Yeshua as their Messiah.

 

 

We already see the early signs of Judah’s repentance beginning to take place; and when Judah final repents and embraces Yeshua as his Messiah it will likely lead to the Ingathering of Ephraim. Remembering that the Rabbinical Order is basically patterned off of the Levitical Order, we can see that after the Ingathering, YHWH will also take some of the Ephraimites for priests, and for Levites.

 

 

If YHWH will take some of the Ephraimites for Levites, it would seem to imply that the Levitical Order will be restored. This will probably happen at the same time that the temple described in Ezekiel 40-46 is built. However, we also see that the temple will be officiated by a leader called the ‘nasi’ (“nah-see”), whom the New King James Version calls a ‘prince.’ We know that this nasi is not Yeshua in that he will offer sin sacrifices not just for the people, but also for himself.

 

 

This nasi cannot be Yeshua, for Yeshua was without sin. Further, we know that the prince/nasi cannot be Yeshua, because the nasi of Ezekiel’s Temple will have earthly sons.

 

 

As we will see in later chapters, both the Levitical and the Melchizedekian priesthoods serve many functions. These include:

 

1.    To stand and to serve before YHWH;

2.    To intercede for the people

3.    To bear the people’s guilt;

4.    To oppose those who are undisciplined; and

5.    To give the people a means of showing their love and obedience to YHWH, by providing them a place to put their tithes, gifts and offerings.

 

As we have already seen, Avram offered his tithe to Elohim through the Melchizedekian Order. Then his grandson Yaakov also vowed a tithe, which more than likely was offered through the Melchizedekian Order as well, since Hebrews typically adhere closely to the customs and traditions of the fathers.

 

When YHWH called Israel out of Egypt, He did not institute the Order of Levi right away. First he told Israel to set all of the first born apart unto Him.

 

 

It was only after the incident with the Golden Calf that YHWH chose the Levites, because they chose to serve YHWH, though it meant opposing their brothers (and even their sons).

 

 

This is a difficult lesson that does not come easily: as human beings we are born ‘unrestrained’; but we need to develop restraint and discipline in order to keep Torah as individuals, and as a society. It is the duty of any priest to teach discipline and restraint to the people, and to oppose all those who choose to be unrestrained, both in actions and in morals.

 

Verse 29 tells us clearly that YHWH bestowed the priesthood on the Levites because they were willing to oppose the rest of the people (who were unrestrained). Compare this mark of a true priest to the mark of a corrupt priest, who ‘tickles the ears’ of the majority, who are unrestrained either in actions and/or in morals.

 

 

We will talk more about the book and tape salesmen who pass for ministers in later chapters. However, if one looks at their ‘ministries’ honestly, one will see that they cannot really oppose or restrain the people, for that would be bad for sales. We will explore this in more detail later, but this is just one of many reasons why the book-and-tape-sales model is not the kind of ministry that YHWH wants.

 

Once YHWH instituted the Levitical Order, there was a change in the Torah (Instruction) of the Tithe, in that the people were now to demonstrate their faith to YHWH by giving their tithes through the Levitical Order, rather than the Order of Melchizedek.

 

 

During the Babylonian Exile, the Levitical lineages were lost. However, since there still had to be some form of priesthood to fulfill the duties of the priesthood, the ‘rabbis’ of the House of Judah instituted a ‘Rabbinical Order’ so as to have someone to stand before YHWH, and to give the people a place to tithe. This worked for a while, but then when the rabbis rejected Yeshua at His First Coming the Rabbinical Order became defiled. Because the Rabbinical Order taught against Yeshua they were no longer worthy to receive the people’s tithes. Once the Second Temple was destroyed the active commission had to be temporarily transferred back to the Melchizedekian Order, where it will remain until the Levitical Order is restored (when Ezekiel’s Temple is built). Yet because this was a temporary change (and the anointing would transfer back one day) Shaul tells us that there was (of necessity) a temporary ‘trading of places’ between the priesthoods.

 

 

Sometimes people misunderstand verse 12, in that it tells us there was a ‘change in the Torah’ when the Levitical and the Melchizedekian Orders swapped places. To understand what happened here we have to look at the Greek. [Note: while the Book of Hebrews was inspired in Hebrew, I believe the Peshitta Aramaic is most likely a high quality backwards translation from the Greek. This makes the Greek more valuable for textual analysis, which is why I use it here.]

 

 

The first time the word ‘change’ is used, it is Strong's Greek #3346, 'Metatithemenees' (μετατιθεμένης). It means, ‘to change sides’ (i.e., to transpose).

 

 

When the Levitical/Rabbinical Order rejected Yeshua (and taught against Yeshua) it became defiled, and will remain so until it begins to teach in favor of Yeshua. In the meantime the Levitical and Melchizedekian orders had to ‘exchange sides,’ or ‘trade places.’ 

 

The second time the word ‘change’ appears it is the Greek word ‘Metathesis’ (μετάθεσις). This word comes from the same root word as ‘Metatithemi’ (which we looked at above); and it means almost the same thing. It means 'transposed' (or substituted).

 

If we plug these meanings into verse 12, we find that it speaks of a transposition of the two priesthoods:

 

 

As we mention in other places, Kepha (Peter) tells us that Shaul’s epistles are easily misunderstood, and that the untaught and unstable were twisting them to mean something-other-than-Torah even back in his day.

 

 

Shaul did not say we could change the written words of the Torah: rather, what he meant was that when the Levitical/Rabbinical Order became defiled, the Torah (instructions) of the Tithe also changed. This fits with the greater overall context of the passage, and it also fits with the greater overall context of Shaul’s writings, which always focus not just at bringing new believers to our King, but also at bringing them together as one man, in order to serve Him as He should be served.

 

So let us turn now to the specifics of the Torah of the Levitical Tithe, and understand the mechanics of that system of governance, which will be reinstituted at some point following the Ingathering. Along the way we may see some surprising things.