Tzav - The Messiah of Peace
The Torah portion of Tzav contains instructions for the peace offerings, and the anointing of the altar and the priests. The Peace offering points towards one of the names of God. Before the priests were anointed, Moshe was a priest, the first one, and Messiah will be the last. The anointing of the altar points towards the anointing of Messiah. The anointing of Aharon and his sons, and Aharon in particular, point towards the followers of Messiah, and how we should act.
The peace offering represents the peace between the worshiper and God. In that respect, the peace offering uniquely represents the work of Messiah. As it says in Romans 5:1, “We have peace with God through our lord Yeshua the Messiah.”
The Torah lists all the peace offerings last in the list of sacrifices. In the sacrificial practice, sin offerings, guilt offerings, and burnt offerings take priority over Peace offerings. Rabbi Shim’on says in the Midrash, “Only he who is at peace may offer up a peace offering.” (Leviticus Rabbah 9:8) In Leviticus 8, Moshe offers up a sin offering, a burnt offering, and then finally a peace offering.
This teaches us an important lesson in approaching God. Before one may draw close to God and experience peace, he must face the obstacle of his wrongdoings. The sin offering acknowledges our sins, our shortcomings, and our faults. The burnt offering symbolizes a complete surrender of our livelihood and soul, letting God lead us where he needs us to go. Only after the impurity of sin has been washed away can we experience the peace of God, symbolized by the peace offering.
The Sages expound upon the greatness of peace. Rabbi Shim’on bar Yochai says, “Great is peace, since all the blessings are comprised of peace, as it says [in Psalms 29:11], ‘The LORD will give strength to His people, The LORD will bless his people with peace.’” Rabbi Hezekiah said that the commandment to seek peace is greater than the other commandments. Whereas a person must perform the other commandments only if the opportunity arises, with peace, it is written, in Psalms 34:14, “Seek peace and pursue it.”
Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Yosi says, “Great is Peace, seeing that the Holy One, blessed is He, is called Peace where it says [in Judges 6:24], ‘And he called him LORD, Peace.’” The disciples of Rabbi Levi said, “Great is peace for all the blessings and prayers conclude with a blessing for peace.”
It says in the Midrash:
“Now I know that peace is the climax of all things in this world. How do I know that it is to be so in the world to come? It is said [in Isaiah 66:12], ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river.’ The rabbis said, “Great is peace, seeing that when the Messiah King comes, he will commence with peace, as it is said [in Isaiah 52:7], ‘How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God Reigns!’” (Leviticus Rabbah 9:9)
Before Aharon and his sons completed their inauguration into the priest-hood Moshe officiated over the Tabernacle. He offered up the sacrifices and led the services. He served as a priest while he was anointing Aharon and his sons into the priesthood. In this way, Moshe was a priest.
The priesthood of Moshe must have been of a higher order than the priesthood of Aharon, because Moshe was the one who initiated the priesthood of Aharon. His priesthood came from having face to face encounters with God and had special privileges that Aharon and his sons did not receive. His priesthood did not come by anointment, and it also didn’t come from heritage. His priesthood stood in its own special class.
The final redeemer follows the footsteps of the first redeemer. Yeshua follows the footsteps of Moshe. Neither Moshe nor Yeshua were ordained to priests. Both Moshe and Yeshua had special privilege when it came to accessing God. Both had a higher class above the priests. Like Moshe, Yeshua too had his own special class of priesthood.
In Leviticus 8:11, Moshe anoints the altar and all the other things that needed anointing within the Tabernacle:
“And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the laver and its base, to sanctify them.”
The anointing ritual symbolizes a consecration to God, marking the object or person as set apart. The hebrew word for “anointing” (mashach, משח), has the same root as the hebrew word for “messiah” (mashiach, משיח). Because of this, we should always pay special attention to things which are anointed in the Bible, as they always point towards some aspect of Messiah.
Moshe sprinkles the altar seven times. This seven-fold anointing points towards the Messiah, who is anointed with the seven-fold Ruach HaKodesh (רוח הקדש, aka The Holy Spirit). As it says in Isaiah 11:2:
“And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom And [the spirit of] understanding, The spirit of counsel And [the spirit of] might, The spirit of knowledge And [the spirit] of the fear of the LORD.”
Aharon received his anointing from Moshe. Psalms 133:1-3 compares this anointing to peace between brothers:
“A Song of Ascents; of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard; Even Aaron’s beard, That cometh down upon the collar of his garments; Like the dew of Hermon, That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing, Even life for ever.”
Why does this psalm compare Aharon’s anointing to peace? The sages say that this was recalling how Aharon was a peacemaker. Hillel used to say, “Be disciples of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving all creatures and drawing them near to Torah.” It is said that Aharon loved peace and pursued it. There’s a story, about a quarrel between two people, named Reuven and Shim’on, and how Aharon made peace between them:
First Aharon went to Reuven and said, “Reuven, I was talking with Shim’on, and he told me that he wants to make peace.” Then he went to Shim’on and said, “I spoke with Reuven and he told me he regrets this argument and wants to make peace with you.” When the two men encountered each other, they assumed the other wanted to make peace, and they embraced and set their argument aside. (Avot DeRabbi Natan 12:3)
Us followers of Yeshua are also called to be peacemakers. We are waiting for the era of universal peace, and so we must emulate the peace we seek. Not only that, but we are blessed even more when we make peace between others like Aharon. It says in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” In parshat Tzav, we learn about the peace offerings, the anointing of the altar, and the anointing of the priests. Before we can have God’s peace, we must recognize our sins and repent for them. The seven-fold anointing of the altar points towards the seven-fold anointing of Messiah. The anointing of Aharon is a symbol of peace, something that we, ones who await an era of peace, should follow.
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