Note: Hebrew transliterations (e.g., HaShem, Yeshua, kohen, tzitzit) are preserved. Minor spelling and reference corrections have been made (e.g., “kavod,” “Caiaphas,” “Nineveh,” 1 Timothy 2:9, Leviticus 13:17).
Parashah Tetzaveh Comments 2024 (2018, re-edited 2024)
Tetzaveh means “You shall command” in Hebrew and it is the title and the beginning of our Torah portion for this week. In this continuation of God’s instructions to Moses regarding the building of the Tabernacle, HaShem tells him:
“You are to make for your brother Aharon garments set apart for serving God, expressing dignity and splendor.” (Exodus 28:2)
This tells us, among other things, that the priests’ garments express the significance of the position they hold. The priests are set apart from others for God’s service; therefore, they are holy. Their garments declare their holiness. Maimonides pointed out that this splendor was not meant to reflect on the High Priest, but on the One whom he served. Many spiritual leaders have lost their way by confusing holiness with righteousness and transferring the awe due to God onto themselves and their egos. Isn’t this what Ha-Satan did?
To be holy is not the same as to be righteous. Caiaphas and his father-in-law Annas were considered “holy” because as High Priests they performed a godly function; yet they were reputed to be corrupt men. A thoughtful Catholic will admit that not every pope was a man of integrity. One of the basic rules of military service is to “respect the uniform.” We may not like or respect the officer, but we show respect to the position that officer holds. God has ordained the minister in a position of authority. We are to respect God’s appointment.
Holy Garments and Kavod
The garments of the High Priest were not to be profaned by common use. They were not only holy—they were magnificent! They communicated the unique and profound respect that God deserves and requires. The Hebrew word often translated “glory” is kavod, which also means “honor,” and is related to “weightiness” (we might say “gravitas”). To take something “lightly” is to treat it as insignificant.
Does God Care About How We Dress?
God wants us to understand that the way we dress matters. If I came to stand before you in a tank top and flip-flops, what would I be saying about my respect for God—and about my regard for you? Many communities meet on Friday evening; people have worked all day and have little time to eat, change, and tend to children before services. I myself don’t always wear a suit and tie. But this differs from attending in shorts and sandals or dressing immodestly.
“Likewise, the women, when they pray, should be dressed modestly and sensibly in respectable attire…” (1 Timothy 2:9)
In the Apostles’ time, Roman paganism permeated society. Cults (e.g., centered on Artemis/Diana) influenced fashion and an aura of sexualized display. Paul urged modesty because clothing communicates witness. Whether it projects inappropriate sexuality, ostentation, or such casualness that it ignores God’s presence, what we wear requires consideration.
Yes, God looks at the heart. And yes, if a truck driver arrives straight off the road after eight hours, God is not offended if he attends “as is.” But God cares about the outside when it reflects an inside that lacks respect for God and for our brothers and sisters. He also cares how we present ourselves to the world—this, too, reflects self-respect.
Inside and Outside
Before I knew the Messiah, my attitude toward God was light. “If He exists, He’ll forgive me for blowing Him off.” That laissez-faire posture keeps God at arm’s length and blocks blessing.
Some attend services, pray, sing, feel close to God for an hour—and then return unchanged to the very patterns that keep them distant. They pick and choose what to surrender. Perhaps they don’t support the fellowship regularly; perhaps they avoid serving; perhaps Torah feels like burden rather than opportunity; perhaps community is only social. Sometimes it’s about keeping a veneer of piety to win esteem without substance.
This is where the rubber meets the road. Yeshua labeled some Pharisees “hypocrites”: polished outside, corrupted inside. Our true character is revealed when no one is looking. If we choose wrong because we think we won’t get caught, we are on a path of destruction. God invites the opposite: integrity that aligns inside and outside.
It doesn’t have to be a Damascus-road experience. Draw near little by little. Recognize that all is His and from Him; gratitude grows; humility deepens; and you begin to see the Father as the loving One who wants you to become the very-best-version of yourself.
“Speak to the entire community of Israel: ‘You shall be holy, for I, Adonai your God, am holy.’” (Leviticus 19:2)
This is a call to become holy—to move toward holiness step by step. Three forward, two back—keep going. Never give up.
Conversion, Identity, and the Commonwealth of Israel
Do gentile believers need to become Jewish? Must men be circumcised? Many argue the Apostles decided in Acts that gentile inclusion requires turning from idolatry, sexual immorality, and consuming blood or meat dedicated to idols—no further prerequisite (see Acts 15). Others see that decision as an entry-point toward fuller observance and even conversion. But conversion does not earn salvation. The Father and the Son love us despite our flaws; relationship is a gift to be received.
Historically, after the leadership of Caiaphas and Annas rejected Yeshua, and especially after the failed Bar Kokhba revolt (135 CE), followers of Yeshua were pushed outside the Jewish communal umbrella, losing ethnic and legal cover. By Constantine’s time, the faith had largely disconnected from its Jewish roots.
This tragic parting bred Replacement Theology, whose worst fruit appeared in the Holocaust. Thank God, that theology is increasingly discredited. Its decline is a sign of healing and future reconciliation—an essential part of God’s plan leading toward Yeshua’s return.
If you follow God—whether within Christian, Jewish, or Messianic settings—that is between you and Him. You are not compelled to move from traditional Christian to Messianic Christian to Messianic Jew unless God calls you. If He does call you toward Jewish identity, conversion is simply a public sign of what’s already true in the heart (as with Abraham’s circumcision—sign, not substance).
Isaiah 19:23–25 envisions Egypt, Assyria, and Israel together under God’s blessing—a foretaste of inclusive redemption.
If God had not intended to preserve faith in His Messiah through the Christian church, it would not have endured. The key is integrity: when the outside expresses the inside—when the person you present matches the person in the mirror—you are whole, honest, transparent. That is holiness.
Wholeness vs. Healing: Tzara’at and Gratitude
In Luke 17:11–19, Yeshua meets ten men afflicted with tzara’at. English Bibles often translate this as “leprosy,” but rabbinic tradition views tzara’at as a spiritual affliction revealed in the skin. The ten obey and go to the priest as Torah commands; all are healed, but only one (a Samaritan) returns to thank Yeshua.
“The kohen will examine him… then the kohen is to declare the person clean.” (Leviticus 13:17)
“Arise, go; your faith has made you whole.” (Luke 17:19)
Tzara’at rebukes pride, selfishness, and lashon hara (evil speech). Nine were healed; one was made whole. God wants wholeness—alignment of inside and outside.
Hope and the Messianic Future
At the end of the Millennium, Yeshua hands the kingdom back to the Father, “that God may be all in all.”
God responds to repentance (think of Nineveh). He will respond to holiness. As we grow into the priestly calling foreshadowed in Tetzaveh’s garments, we hasten the day when His presence fills the world.
Isaiah 11:1–16 paints the coming peace: justice, restoration, and the knowledge of Adonai covering the earth “as water covers the sea.”
Closing Prayer
Father God, bring us to an ever-greater awareness of Your holiness, and of who we are to become in obedience to You. Amen.
