I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 16-18 .

In today’s passage God gave Moses the instructions for the Day of Atonement.  The first thought I had about this passage was curiosity about where the “wilderness of Azazel” was.  As I suspected, the place being referred to is ambiguous.  In fact, some translations say that the goat should be driven into the “wilderness for Azazel”.  In fact, there are Jewish legends which say that Azazel was a demon, whom the goat was intended to appease.  That would essentially make the goat an offering to a demon, which seems to me to be inconsistent with the commands against idolatry.  A little further research on my part revealed that the Hebrew word “azazel” is composed of the Hebrew word for rugged, “azaz”, and a generic word for God, “el”. (note: “el” in the Bible usually, and perhaps always, applies to God, but was used by the people of that area for other gods as well, even in some of their names for their gods).  All of which suggests to me that the original writer of this passage would have understood the phrase to mean that the goat would be driven into a rugged wilderness dedicated to God (perhaps so dedicated by its use for this purpose?).  I want to add that it is from this passage that we get the term “scapegoat”, which is sometimes misspoken as “escape goat”.  Interestingly enough, the “scape” in “scapegoat” is almost certainly a shortening of the word escape.  The importance of all of this is that words change meaning over time and Ancient Hebrew was a language which, at least the written form, contained many words whose meanings changed significantly depending on context.  

Later in today’s passage, in chapter 18, there are a series of prohibited sexual practices.  When Christians refer to these prohibitions as guidelines, some people ask why they do not also follow kosher food rules.  There is a relatively simple answer to that question of which most Christians fail to be aware.  When the Jerusalem Council, recorded in Acts, sent out a letter instructing Gentile believers on the issue of following Jewish “Law”, they specifically said that Gentile believers only needed to follow three elements of Jewish Law.  Those elements were: do not worship idols by taking part in their feasts (eating food offered to idols), do not eat/drink blood, do not commit fornication.  These instructions contained here would have been more or less what they were thinking of by fornication.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 10-12.

Yesterday I wrote that a process of dedication like the ordination which Aaron and his sons went through can make people more determined to do things the right way.  Today’s passage starts off by demonstrating that it does not always do so.  Despite going through the somber, serious process of ordination decided that they could take a shortcut to the proper procedures.  So, a dedication/ordination service does not in and of itself prepare us to do the Lord’s work.  We still need to put in effort to get things right.

The passage goes on to describe what animals the Israelites were allowed to eat.  While Christians do not follow these dietary laws, we have recently been reminded why it is a bad idea to eat anything you can lay your hands upon by the outbreak of the coranavirus from Wuhan, China.  While there are other theories about the origins of this infectious agent, currently the most likely theory is that it jumped from one of the animal species sold for food in the markets of Wuhan, markets which are known for selling as food animals no one outside of Asia, and few outside of China, would consider eating.  A similar thing happened in 2002 from a different part of China.  The rules laid out in this passage provide an easy to remember set of rules which limit your diet to things which have little to no risk of making you sick. 

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.

In the New Testament, Paul writes that if you think it is sinful to some specific thing, than you commit a sin when you do that particular thing.  This has led some people to the conclusion that if you do not think a particular act is a sin, for you that act is not a sin.  Today’s passage makes very clear that you can sin without realizing that you are doing so.  A careful reading of what Paul writes on the subject reveals that there are things which are not sinful to do in and of themselves.  However, they may be sinful to do if we think of them as sinful.  Or, if we them in front of someone who thinks of them as sinful, who then does them because they saw us do them.  That latter sin does not require that we know the person thinks that the action is a sin.

As an example of how this works.  I have some friends who often tell self-deprecating jokes about themselves in order to make people laugh, and often intentionally set themselves up as the straight man for a joke told by others.  If someone took advantage of one of these set ups in order to make them look bad, it would fail because the butt of the joke, and those around them, knew the whole thing was just to get a laugh.  However, the person who tried to make them look bad would still be guilty of trying to bring harm to them by besmirching their reputation.  On the other hand, if someone set themselves up to be the butt of a joke, I took advantage of that opportunity, and that person felt denigrated by what I said, I would be guilty of hurting their feelings, even if I only meant to make them laugh.  or, to put it another way.  If I intend to do harm, I am guilty of doing wrong even if I fail to do harm, but I am also wrong if I do harm, but did not intend to do so.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 1-4.

Today moves on to a description of the various sacrifices which the Israelites were required to make.  I found two things in this worth taking note of.  First, the passage makes a connection between the use of blood and fat in the various animal offerings and God prohibiting the Israelites from eating either.  I am not sure of the significance of this for us today, but there it is.  Second, the Israelites were only to offer animals without defect.  Here the significance is clear.  We should only bring our best to God, whether that is the material goods we offer, or the effort we put into doing His will.  It should not be an after though, or done carelessly.