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

Some time back I realized that the sacrifices described in the Old Testament were usually eaten by those who offered them (with portions which were not eaten) in ritual feasts.  Today, I noticed that the various types of sacrifices listed in today’s passage have differing requirements for what is done with the animals which are sacrificed.  In some of these sacrifices, the entire animal is burned upon the altar. In others, only part of the animal is burned upon the altar.  When only part of the animal is burned upon the altar, for some sacrifices the rest is taken outside of the camp and burned, and for others the disposition of the rest of the animal is not specified.  It is only the last type of sacrifice where any of the animal is eaten.  The other thing I noticed is that, in every case of animal sacrifice, all of the fat portions of the animal is burnt upon the altar.  I usually seek to write about some application of the passage for us today, but today I do not have anything.  However, I think being aware that these differences in how different sacrifices were processed will, at some point, give me (and hopefully you) a better understanding of other passages.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 26-27.

There is a saying which is usually brought up as a false belief (and accurately so) which says that might makes right.  Even so, there are a remarkable number of people who believe that because they have the power to do something it is right for them to do so.  This passage tells us that the opposite is true: might does not make right, but right does make might.  That is, if we do the right thing we will have the power to continue doing the right thing.  When we do right, when we do God’s will, no force will be sufficient to stand against us.  Further, we will have a surplus of the resources necessary to do God’s will.  On the other hand, as we fail to do God’s will we fail at everything we attempt to even the weakest opposition and will find ourselves with barely enough resources to keep ourselves alive.  This passage tells us that as we refuse to follow God’s guidelines, He will progressively visit troubles and disasters upon us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 24-25.

This passage contains a rule which a society must follow in order to be a just society: the same law, the same rules, apply to everyone, foreigner and native-born alike.  That extends to our personal lives as well.  We should not have higher standards to which we hold others than that to which we hold ourselves, or those close to us.  I do think that it is OK to hold ourselves to a higher standard than that to which we hold others. This connects to the other part of this passage which I want to write about, but I am unsure how to express that connection.  While laying out the rules for the Year of Jubilee, the passage says that if one “your fellow Israelites” become poor and unable to support themselves help them as you would a foreigner and stranger.  First, I think that we should think of “fellow Israelite” as fellow Believer.  Now one might be inclined to think that one would not give much help to a foreigner, so that this passage is telling us not to give much help.  However, the next couple of verses make clear that is not the case.  Instead what we realize is that we should help the poor, whether they are fellow Believers, members of our “tribe”, or complete strangers (although it says that they are living amongst us, so they are people about whom we know something).  Further, it is an instruction about how we, as individuals, should interact with those in need, not something we can pawn off on the government.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 22-23.

There are seven festivals which the people of Israel were to observe.  Six of the seven festivals were celebrations, but the Day of Atonement is a more solemn assembly.  That was why I wrote that they were to “observe” the festivals, rather than that they were to “celebrate” them.  In the same way, I probably should have written that these were “assemblies” rather than that they were “festivals”.  Both celebrate and festival have connotations about joy, happiness, and fun which are inappropriate for the Day of Atonement.  Having said that I think it important that six of the seven have that sense of communal joy and fun associated with them.  It really tells us something about how we should worship God.  Most of the time (6 out of 7) it should be joyous and fun, but every now and then it needs to be sober and solemn.  We need to know and remember which approach to take on each occasion.  I want to circle back to the fact that these were assemblies.  The people were to gather together to observe these reminders about God.  We should gather with our fellow Believers on a regular basis, often in celebration, but occasionally in a more solemn fashion.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 19-21.

While many of the commands in this passage have been deprecated by Christ’s death on the cross, the central theme remains: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”  We might argue over what that means, over what it means to be holy, but looking at some of these commands which are still entirely relevant reveals the answer to that.

• Do not steal
• Do not lie
• Do not deceive one another
• Do not defraud your neighbor
• Do not hold back wages
• Do not do anything which endangers your neighbors life
• Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge, but love your neighbor as yourself

That last one really sums it all up, love your neighbor as yourself.  One of the things which is often pointed out is that if you are to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to love yourself.  The passage even contains a lesson on how to go about that, and it is a difficult one.  It tells us not to bear a grudge, which is really hard.  We are not loving someone if we seek revenge against them or bear a grudge.  What makes that even harder for many people is that they bear a grudge against themselves for things they did, or did not, do in the past.  In order to love others you must love yourself and you cannot love yourself if you harbor a grudge against yourself for your past actions.  We must accept God’s forgiveness and forgive ourselves so that we can love others.

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

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

Immediately after the death of Aaron’s sons, which happened during their ordination period, God gave Aaron additional instructions regarding entering His presence in the Tabernacle.  These instructions also contain the sacrifices for the Day of Atonement for the entire nation of Israel.  It is not clear to me if these instructions meant that the only time Aaron was to enter into the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle was on the Day of Atonement, or if he was not to enter until after the Day of Atonement (which would apply to his successors as high priest, they were not to enter the Most Holy Place until after they had first made the Day of Atonement sacrifices).  In any case, this passage is where the idea of a scapegoat comes from.  The scapegoat as described here is one who bears the blame for the sin of others, sin of which they are not guilty, specifically, it is a goat which is incapable of being guilty of the sins it bears.  The symbolism of the scapegoat here involves carrying the sins away from us.  The New Testament presents Jesus as filling the role of both goats in this passage.  He was sacrificed on the cross for our sins, and He carried those sins away from us despite being entirely innocent of them.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 14-15.

I am at a complete loss today as to what to write.  One can point to a few things about good hygiene presented in this passage, but what lesson can we take from it about how we should live our lives?  Perhaps one could make a metaphor out of the command that someone who is to be cleansed by this ritual must wash their clothes. shave all of their hair and then bathe their entire body for how we should spiritually cleanse ourselves from sin, but I cannot quite put that together.  Certainly, the section on bodily discharges reminds us that even as long ago as these commands were written down people understood the dangers of exchanging bodily fluids with others.  I guess the one point of value I will make is that we need to be willing to go to great lengths to cleanse ourselves from sin.

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

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

To my knowledge I have never come across anyone referencing the fact that Nadab and Abihu were among those who went up Mt Sinai with Moses, Aaron, and the 70 elders.  So, they had seen God, yet here they are using fire in their censers other than that which God commanded.  I believe that the honor they had received at Mt Sinai played a role in their deaths here.  Jesus said. “To whom much is given, much is required.”  These two men (I was going to write “young men”, but realized that was unlikely to be true, considering that Moses was in his 80s by this point and Aaron was Moses’ older brother) had been given a lot, both in honor and in knowledge.  They took a “short cut” when they knew the correct way, and they did this on their very first time as priests.  In the same way, those of us who have been given much knowledge about how God wants us to live (in my case, by the example of my parents’ faith and that of the many other great men and women God has put in my life over the years, and by my regular reading of the Bible) will be held to a higher standard of behavior than those who have rarely, or never, been exposed to God’s Word.  I probably deserve to suffer the same fate as these two of Aaron’s sons.

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