The Duty of Holiness (Part 1)

Torah Living Daily Challenge 18

You are the sons of Yahovah your God…For you are a holy people [set apart]to Yahovah your God; and Yahovah has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations on the earth. (Deuteronomy 14:1, 2)

Welcome to Torah Living Daily Challenge. This is episode 18: The Duty of Holiness (Part 1).

I love this Faith that we trace back to the first century and Y’shua’s earthly ministry—the giving of the Ruach Kodesh on Pentecost on the Temple Mount weeks after our Master’s ascension to heaven from the Mount of Olives—and the growth of the assemblies throughout the Roman Empires as the Gospel message was preached and taught by the Master’s handpicked apostles. We even trace our lineage back to when we were wandering in the desert under the leadership of Moshe and subsequently Y’hoshua (aka Joshua). Ever since these epic, monumental days, we had drilled into our heads and hearts that we were a special people who Father selected out of the entirety of the human race. This was our identity, so to speak. We were a to be or become a holy people—a set apart people to Yahovah, chosen to be a peculiar people—also referred to in various translations as a treasured possession of the Creator of the Universe.

Mourning for the Dead

As I continue my Torah studies, I come upon this portion of Torah that addresses our duty to holiness. Verses one and two of this portion set the stage for instructing us on how we are to behave as Father’s treasured possession. We were instructed over and over that we were not to adapt many of the traditions, religious and pagan practices of the surrounding nations. In this particular portion of Torah, Father focused primarily upon pagan funerary practices and diet.

Verse one addresses death ritual practices of the surrounding pagan nations that we were to reject and outright avoid. These practices included disfiguring our bodies in response to grief over the death of a loved one. The disfigurement included cutting one’s flesh and actually disfiguring one’s body in response to one’s grief. One well known funerary practice of the ancient near east pagan nations was to cut a lock of one’s hair and burying that lock of hair with the body of the deceased as an offering to the dead and pagan diety. Clearly, these practices were drenched in a suspicion and paganistic—ritualistic mindset. The casual observer might take exception to the Father’s position on this subject, insisting that these practices harm no one and make little difference in the end. But as I’ve said in many previous postings, Yah’s large and in charge and He sets the rules for His people to follow. Yes, for the casual observer who has no true relationship with Father, such practices mean little to nothing. But to the truth seeking, Torah observant believer in Y’shua Messiah, observing such practices is tantamount to infidelity as it relates to our relationship with Yahovah. Such funerary practices related to observing or honoring the dead are not of Yahovah but are purely demoniacally-based. The reality of the matter is that Father’s will is done as it relates to the death of anyone, as callous and tragic as that may sound. Thus, how we approach death as a Torah observant believer in Y’shua Messiah is vitally important.

Father demands that we set the example for the world to see as it relates to how we grieve over the passing of a loved one. That’s not to say that when someone who we truly cared about dies that we should not nor can not mourn their loss. Even our Master mourned over premature death of Lazarus in Bethany. (Reference John 11:17-53) There is a time and place for mourning (reference Ecc. 3:4), but mourn within the confines of Torah and understanding of what really happens when we die. When we were wandering in the wilderness, our understanding of death and how we should process it was heavily influenced by regional paganistic societies and cultures. We were a hodgepodge group of people coming out of Egypt, possessing diverse and varied understandings of death and grief. Father had to get our attention, because obviously we had members of our lot, practicing pagan rituals upon the death of loved ones. Father had to put a stop to it and explain to us that your focus my be on me: the Maker and Supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth…I control everything, including who and how one dies. Death is within the strict oversight of Yahovah. Our response to death must then be within the context of Yahovah’s rulership over the lives of men.

Now I don’t suppose to tell you how anyone should respond to the death of a loved one. Trust me, I don’t want any of that. I deal with grief in one form or another each day at my job. But the one thing I do know is that since Yahshua came and died for our sins and arose and ascended to Father in heaven, a door has been opened for a true relationship with Father; death no longer holds the terrible finality that it once had during our time in the wilderness. With the renewed covenant through Y’shua HaMashiyach, we have the opportunity for eternal life. So now when a loved one who was a true believer in Y’shua Messiah dies, we have the expressed hope of seeing and enjoying them once again—next time for eternity. So with that knowledge and understanding of death tucked away in our hearts and minds, Torah’s handling of grief as it relates to dying, has an expanded significance and truth attached to it. Shaul instructed us as follows: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” (I Thessalonians 4:13 KJV)

Thus, we are not to respond to death in the same manner that the world around us does. Our grieving is to be within the confines of our relationship with the Father and thus, even in the midst of death, our treasured and holy status as a people of Yahovah shines forth to the world around us. People will wonder about us and maybe even be drawn to us to learn about that which separates us from the rest of the world. That is our challenge dear saints—holiness in the midst of death. How we handle and deal with death within the confines of Torah and our relationship with Father will make us shining examples of Yah’s requirement for holiness to a evil and perverse world. May we live Torah Y’shua-style, in the power and might of His Ruach haKodesh. Shalom.