This Portion

• Torah
• Leviticus 14:1 | Purification of Lepers and Leprous Houses
• Leviticus 15:1 | Concerning Bodily Discharges
• Prophets
• 2Ki 7:3 | The Arameans Flee
• Gospel
• Luk 12:1 | A Warning against Hypocrisy
• Luk 12:4 | Exhortation to Fearless Confession
• Luk 12:13 | The Parable of the Rich Fool
• Luk 12:22 | Do Not Worry
• Luk 12:35 | Watchful Slaves
• Luk 12:41 | The Faithful or the Unfaithful Slave
• Luk 12:49 | Jesus the Cause of Division
• Luk 12:54 | Interpreting the Time
• Luk 12:57 | Settling with Your Opponent
• Luk 13:1 | Repent or Perish
• Luk 13:6 | The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
• Luk 13:10 | Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman
• Luk 13:18 | The Parable of the Mustard Seed
• Luk 13:20 | The Parable of the Yeast
• Luk 13:22 | The Narrow Door
• Luk 13:31 | The Lament over Jerusalem

The twenty-eighth reading from the Torah is Metzora (מצורע), a word that means “leper.” The word appears in the second verse of the reading, which says, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing” (Leviticus 14:2). Leviticus 14 spells out the complex purification rituals for the cleansing of a leper and a leprous home. Leviticus 15 briefly covers the laws regarding ritual unfitness stemming from bodily emissions. Except in biblical calendar leap years, Metzora is read together with the previous Torah portion, Tazria, on the same Sabbath.

Messiah the Avenger

Thought for the Week:

Messiah is our redeemer. He has redeemed us from slavery, from sin, from condemnation and from death. He is our kinsmen redeemer, our brother in the house of God, who has ransomed us from the debt we could not pay. Therefore, we speak of Him as redeemer. He is also the national redeemer of Israel. Just as Moses, the first redeemer, redeemed all Israel from slavery, so too the second redeemer, Messiah, redeems the whole nation. And this great second redemption is not only a spiritual redemption, but it is the literal, physical redemption of Israel. He will gather the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the nations, and restore them to the land of Israel.

Commentary:

The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. (Numbers 35:19)

Messiah is the redeemer of Israel. In the Bible, the job of a kinsmen redeemer includes taking blood vengeance. Therefore, if Messiah is to redeem Israel, He must also avenge Israel. He will require recompense in blood for every drop of Jewish blood that has been spilled, and for every drop of His disciple’s blood, whether Jew or Gentile. Psalm 110 says, “He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. He will drink from the brook by the wayside; therefore He will lift up His head.” (Psalm 110:6–7)

Psalm 9:12 speaks of God as the redeemer, the blood avenger, when it says, “He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” Psalm 79:10 says, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let there be known among the nations in our sight, vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed.”

The implications of Messiah coming to avenge the blood of Israel is frightening when we consider that the Church has been, historically, the chief spiller of Israel’s blood. In the name of Christ, literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands, even millions of Jews have been ruthlessly killed through the centuries.

The book of Revelation depicts the souls of martyrs crying out to God for vengeance:

“How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ... and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. (Revelation 6:9–11)

In Deuteronomy, the LORD says, “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,” (Deuteronomy 32:35) The prophet Isaiah assures us, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.” (Isaiah 35:4) All of these texts combine to paint a dire picture of Messiah’s second coming. When He comes again, He comes as the avenger of His people.

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