Leviticus 23

The special instructions given in this chapter for the holy-days of the Israelites are pretty specific, and involve lots of sacrifices and offerings. What stuck out to me, though, was two things:

- Many of these were to be "perpetual statute[s] throughout your generations in all the places where you live." (v 31, NET) I wonder if the modern Jews still follow the exacting requirements given here, especially things like living in temporary shelters during the Feast of Booths. Furthermore, I wonder if Messianic Jews (those of Jewish lineage who follow Christ as their Messiah) maintain all of these laws, or if they take the New Testament teachings as making these obsolete.

- The idea of a 7-day week has been present in the Bible since Genesis, and it is still the most basic measurement of time we use beyond "days". I find it quite interesting that the Bible gives a very good explanation for why 7-day weeks exist, and I wonder if atheists have any non-religious reasoning to explain why humans measure time thusly.

Leviticus 22

This chapter covers laws about how priests are to deal with the portion of offerings that belonged to them as food, as well as some commands about certain types of sacrifices the Israelites made. What I liked here - and what I recall seeing on occasion in previous chapters - is that there was a clause for someone who accidentally ate the priests' food if he wasn't supposed to. God knows we are human, and far from perfect, and He set up His laws accordingly.

Also, it sticks in my memory that at some point David had his men eat from the food dedicated to priests (when he was on the run, I think). I can't pinpoint where I remember reading that, but when I get into those later books of the Bible I will have to keep that in mind and see if I can find it.

Leviticus 21

Today's reading covers rules for priests, and I noticed that the Israelite priests were able to take wives. This surprised me some, as I figured that the Catholic ban against priests being married might have come from old Israelite traditions - but apparently not! I wonder, then, why they do have that restriction...

Leviticus 20

More today on sexual regulations, along with some prohibitions on worshiping other deities and consulting mediums/spirits. The only new thing that stood out to me here was that having sex with a woman during her period is so strongly rebuked; presumably even if that woman is ones wife. I really wonder about that, as it makes so logical sense to me - but then I suppose God doesn't have to conform to human logic. This seems especially odd, though, since earlier we were just told that this made someone unclean until the next morning. I'd be very interested in any comments or insight readers might have on this subject.

Leviticus 19

I rather like this section of the Bible, as it is neat to see the various laws God put in place for His people. Many of them I don't understand, and I wonder if the translation into English just misses some of the cultural implications of the time period. For example, what does it mean to "not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard" (verse 27, NET)? I didn't know my hair had corners :/

The main principles of the laws God put forth are great, of course - it was God giving them after all. In particular I like the regulations about fairness and impartiality (v 15, 35, 36). Here are some others that stand out, for one reason or another:

- "You must not wear a garment made of two different kinds of fabric." (v 19) Does this mean that all our modern clothes made with varying percents of different materials are somehow wrong? Obviously we don't have to follow all of the Law any more (as Christians), but why would God care about something like this?

- "You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake." (v 16) This is a slightly different take on the verse in the NET than other translations I've read, but if accurate I really like it. It would seem to me to be evidence against pure pacifism.

Leviticus 18

Today's reading largely covers laws about sexual relations. Of particular note I found the following:

- Verse 22 is a pretty straight-forward prohibition against homosexuality. However, it only addresses male (gay) sex - the female equivalent (lesbian) is not mentioned here. There are other passages later in the Bible that also deal with this topic, so I will have to remember to see if both forms of sex are addressed or not.

- Some things that I would think are pretty straightforward, like not having sex with your own mother, are expressly forbidden here. Since the purpose of this chapter is to prevent the Israelites from falling into the same debauchery that the Egyptians and Canaanites had partaken in, there much have been some pretty twisted people in both of those cultures.

Leviticus 17

More on sacrifices today, along with a prohibition on eating blood. I guess vampires were not allowed in ancient Israel - and that is a good thing! Not meaning to take much of a side trip, but I am not pleased with the re-casting of vampires in a good light (no pun intended) recently. It seems to me that the lines between good and evil are being blurred more and more in popular media, and in culture in general.

Leviticus 16

Wow, today's reading covers the most interesting of the ritual regulations so far in Leviticus (at least to me). Most unique here is the presentation of two goats: one for an offering to the Lord, the other to be set free in the wilderness. On the face of it that isn't too amazing, but the mysteriousness surrounding why that is done and the wording used to describe are very strange: "He must then take the two goats and stand them before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 16:8 and Aaron is to cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel." (v 14-15, NET)

I could go into more depth here, but not being an expert on the subject the best I could do would be paraphrasing the work of others - so I would just recommend reading verses 3-10 and 20-22, and then consulting a good study Bible or other resource. The notes on the NET Bible for that section are worth reading, and give further direction if you want to go deeper.

Leviticus 15

More of the same regulations for cleanliness and offerings today, but we do get a little insight into why these rules were in place. In verse 31 we are told the following: "Thus you are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst." (NET) These instructions were followed for quite a while after the tabernacle was no longer used, of course, and I'm sure that at some point God considered the temple a replacement for it - but without a temple in modern days I suppose the Israelites may not follow these laws any longer. Does anyone out there with Jewish friends or family happen to know if that is the case?

Leviticus 14

I wonder what the "leprosy" that affected houses might have been. I would imagine some sort of mold or something, but the visual description given in the chapter doesn't really line up with what I though mold looked like. Also, how odd is it that attonement had to be made for a building that had become unclean?

Leviticus 13

Today's reading was quite long and repetitive, as much of Leviticus has been, but perhaps this is teaching me patience. Also, I'm beginning to think that the Israelite priests should have been on that TV show - Dirty Jobs. They had to deal constantly with sacrifices involving blood and guts of animals, and in addition they had the task of inspecting humans for leprosy. I'm sure that serving the Lord was an honor as well, but with my modern sensibilities I don't think I could have handled the sort of work they did.

Leviticus 12

Today's section was short, and there isn't a whole ton to it, just instructions for purification following the birth of a chile. I do find it odd, though, that the length of time a woman was unclean lastest longer if the baby was a girl than a boy - twice as long, to be precise. I'd love to know what that is supposed to signify.

Leviticus 11

The passage today cover the food rules that God gave the Israelites. I've always been fascinated by these, as the reasons behind the rules often seemed odd. For example, why only livestock that have cloven hoofs and chew their cud? What sort of logic is there to that? I can only figure that either the rules were arbitrary and God simply wanted them followed, or that they were for health reasons and just happened to be easier to describe with physical characteristics. Someday I plan to ask :)

Oh, and I'm glad these no longer apply: I don't think I could live without pork!

Leviticus 10

Quite an interesting account today - two of Aaron's sons, the recently anointed priests, offer improper gifts to God... and are punished. It just occurred to me that the only times in the Bible where God directly kills an individual or small, specific group are when they are people who were supposed to be His: either Israelites or Christians. We have these two men in Leviticus, Korah and his followers a little later on, a man who reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant in David's time, and Ananias and Saphira in the early church period. I'm sure there are others, but all the ones that come to my mind share that common thread. I'm not sure what they means, but perhaps it should serve as a warning that while God is loving He also has rules and expectations for us that we need to respect and obey - especially since we as His followers have been entrusted with the knowledge of what we should and should not do.

Leviticus 9

From the text today it sounds as though the ceremonies surrounding the Tabernacle and the beginning of the priests' work is drawing to a close. One thing that occurred to me while reading this evening was that maybe some of the complexity in the offering system was actually God meeting a 'need' of the Israelites. When all He asked was that they follow Him out of Egypt and not worship other gods, they failed. Maybe they needed more pomp and ceremony that they could focus on. After all, they would have doubtless seen the Egyptians making all manner of sacrifices to their pantheon of gods - maybe the expectation of such things was culturally bred into them at that point. I could be completely off base here: maybe God had symbolic or other reasons for the requirements He put in place.

Leviticus 8

Today's reading covers the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests, and the anointing both of them and the various instruments to be used in the Lord's service. Pretty straightforward, though the reference to the "Urim and Thummim" is interesting. I've heard those names before, and when they are mentioned later in the Bible I may do some more research into what they were. The part about putting blood on the priests' ears, fingers and toes was also a bit odd - but I'm sure it signified something at the time.

Levititus 7

I think we are drawing to the end of this section on the offering regulations, and I am not going to miss it. Most of the specifics of these rules go over my head anyways; it seems that a familiarity with animal anatomy and ancient foodstuffs is necessary to fully understand a lot of what was written.

Instead of talking about the reading, though, I'd lik to take a moment to reflect on my own walk with Jesus. I know I'm not where I need to be in many respects, and I am working on that with things like this daily reading. However, the thing I struggle with the most is how I am to show Christ's love to the world. I am not afraid to talk about my faith, and I think I am well-equipped with knowledge, but what I lack is two-fold: the understanding of when and how to approach people, and the love that I should have for all of humanity. There are so many people groups that I don't feel any compassion for: criminals of certain varieties, outspoken people of alternative lifestyles, and some others. I know I should love them as Jesus loves everyone, but something in me is blocking that.

I'm not sure how I will get over that, but I know I need to. It isn't a huge block to my witnessing right now, though, as I don't really interact with anyone in those categories; what is blocking me, I think, is my hesitation to broach the topic of Christianity with people I do know. I'm always second-guessing myself: what if I speak at the wrong time, or in the wrong way? What if I should just be an example of Christ a little longer before I talk to someone? What if... those two darned words...

Leviticus 6

More regulations for the various sacrifices and offerings. As I've said before, this all just makes me glad that we no longer have to go through all of these motions and sacraments. The first section of the reading relates to the guilt offerings that were discussed yesterday, though, and it I found interesting. Specifically the requirement that a thief (or other person who has sinned by taking what is not theirs) give back what they took along with an additional fifth is very interesting. In some ways that seems like letting someone off easy, but at the same time it might be enough to make someone think twice before committing a crime.

Leviticus 5

This chapter has more about sin and guilt offerings, a followup to the last reading. What I find most interesting here is that there is a sliding scale, if you will, of offerings. There are three tiers of what someone can afford, which I'm sure the poorer Israelites appreciated. I guess God was ahead of the times ;)

Leviticus 4

The regulations in this chapter cover "sin offerings" - which were apparently special for circumstances in which a person or group had fallen into sin unintentionally. Once that was discovered, this type of offering would be made to cleanse the affected person/people.

What really surprised me here were two things:

- It seems that every time one sinned accidentally this was to take place. If that is correct, and was followed to the letter, I would expect a non-stop stream of people coming to give offerings day and night!

- For the way things are phrased, at least in the NIV I was reading tonight, it sounds like one wasn't considered guilty of the sin until one had realized it had happened. This was backwards of what I thought previously: I always assumed that once one committed a sin (intentionally or not) one was guilty of it; this, though, makes it seem that guilt traces back to the moment of realization of the sin. I suppose that could be instantly after - or even during - the sin, or it could be days, weeks, or years later.

How interesting these items are! Furthermore, I wonder what one was to do as restitution if one sinned willfully...

Leviticus 3

The concept of a 'peace offering', as described in the text today, is rather unfamiliar to our modern culture. We see sacrificial offerings in movies, and the idea is related closely to Christ's death on the cross for our sins. Doing a little research, though, it appears that the peace offering was a representation of the relationship between God and a worshiper; it was done after any other offerings, and as best as I can put it showed that God and the individual were on okay terms. That is kind of a cool idea, but I'm glad we don't have to go through all of the ceremony the Israelites did to demonstrate it.

Leviticus 2

In today's readings about how to offer grain sacrifices to the Lord three things stood out to me:

- The offerings had to be prepared without yeast or honey. The idea of leaving yeast, or leavening, out of foods that were part of religious ordinances was also present in Exodus, and I think is throughout the Bible. This is even used in Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

- It was also required that salt be included in any baked offerings, which again is reminiscent of New Testament ideas. There we, as Christians, are to be the salt of the Earth; here, the salt is somehow representing the covenant between the Lord and the Israelites.

- Lastly, I noticed that only a small part - a "handful" of the offerings were to be burned. The rest was given to the priests, so I assume that was part of how they were provided for. That seems pretty cool :)

Leviticus 1

Today we have the instructions for burnt offerings, or as the text puts it "gift[s] of a soothing aroma to the Lord" (NET). I am very thankful that we no longer need to do such animal sacrifices - with Christ's atonement on the cross that ended, and we now are washed clean through His blood rather than through that of livestock. Praise the Lord!

Exodus 40

And the story of the Exodus from Egypt draws to a close with the assembly of the Tabernacle. I am excited to see where the next book goes, as I'm not sure I've ever read much in Leviticus. The last thing I noted in this section of scripture was that God's presence now rested on the Tabernacle, but was manifest in the same way as the pillar of cloud/fire that initially led them out of Egypt. I sometimes wonder how large a fire and cloud this is talking about; I mean, it must have been pretty sizable if the Israelites could see it from a distance, but it also must have been small enough to effectively sit atop of the tent of meeting. How awesome it would be to have seen that! I wonder if there will be slide shows in Heaven... ;)

Exodus 39

After all their previous failings and departure from God's instructions, when it came time to make stuff the Israelites were apparently spot-on. That is quite refreshing, after the earlier parts of Exodus where they continually questioned Moses and God. I suppose that a couple of lessons could be drawn from this: 1) when God has a work to do in your life, if you do it wholeheartedly He will ensure that it is completed according to His wishes; 2) obedience to the Lord brings blessings (see the last verse).

Exodus 38

You may have noticed that yesterday's post was a little late in coming. It was done last night, but our internet connection was down so it didn't get posted till I got home from work today.

Today's reading was more of the same - descriptions of the way parts of the Tabernacle were made. It seems to be over, though, and the tally at the end of how much gold, silver and bronze were used is kind of cool to see. It might be fun to translate the weights into current-day values to see what the metals would cost to recreate this today (not counting all the linen and hides, of course).

Exodus 37

It looks like the final touches are being made in terms of the tabernacle and its accessories. The making of the ark in particular is covered in this chapter, which leads to a question I've wondered about. We will see later on that the ark is so sacred that even touching it brings instant death (hence the polls to carry it with). I wonder, though, when that starts: obviously it did not kill anyone working on the construction of it. I suspect that edict will go into effect when God's presence comes and settles on the ark, but I guess the Scriptures might say more when we get to that section.

Exodus 36

I know this sounds horrible, but the tedium of repetition in the last few chapters is getting to me. We've gotten at least two descriptions of how the Tabernacle was made, and two recaps of the major laws handed down by God to the Israelites. I'm sure the extra accounts are for emphasis or some other important reason, but I'm afraid it is lost on me at present.

I will note, though, that the fact that the needs of the Tabernacle were met and the Israelites were still giving is pretty cool. Maybe after everything they had been through the people finally felt like giving back to God for all He had done for them.

Exodus 35

The neatest thing about the gathering of goods God arranged for His tabernacle is that it was all voluntary: the text repeats in many places that only those who felt it appropriate gave donations, and that was what Moses relayed as God's instructions. How many other ancient religions do you suppose made giving to their gods optional? Even today, groups and cults like Scientology basically require giving of their members - but every church I've gone to portrays tithing as optional. Mind you, in that case God does command it (both in the old and new testaments); the difference, though, is that no one but you and God know how much or how little you give in church. You won't get kicked out of any real Christian church for not giving, though you may find that God will bless you tenfold for donations that come from the heart.

Exodus 34

Today's passage covers the re-making of the tablets containing the ten commandments. Moses broke the originals when he saw the Israelites worshiping the golden calf a few chapters back, and now God is providing replacements. What I find very cool about this is that God Himself is the one writing on the tablets. Moses lived such an amazing life: seeing God, hearing God, and carrying the very literal words of God on the tablets! He was so close to God when they spoke that Moses' face actually glowed. I suppose the lesson here is that as Christians we should be striving to be so close to the Lord that our lives shine in a way that others around us - both fellow believers and the world - can see Him through us.