Monday Reflections...my picture wall is growing...Leviticus...sermon post too

My photo wall is growing in my office in Machias, Maine and so is the requirements of my online masters class.  More papers are due this time and this section of my second class deals with the third book of the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus.

If you like reading instruction manuals, you would like to read the book of Leviticus.  Maybe Leviticus is the very first instruction manual with its meticulous details.  What can I learn from it?  Well that is what I am challenged to find out and write about in this week's upcoming paper.  God gives Moses plenty to record that will set up the procedures to follow to the "t".  The title "Leviticus" literally means, "matters of the Levites" and there are a lot of matters.

With the required reading of the book, I started to jot down some observations.  Some things are holy; some things are clean; and some things are unclean.  These are three distinct groups in the book of Leviticus.  The holy could be the priests; the clean could be the Israelites, and the unclean could be the non-Israelites.  The holy could be the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle; the clean could be the Holy Place; and the unclean could be the Courtyard.  The holy could be the tabernacle (tent of meeting); the clean could be the camp; and the unclean could be outside the camp.  The holy could be the food for the priests; the clean could be the approved food for the Israelites; and the unclean could be the unapproved food of the world.  You see how this could go on and on.

The tabernacle (tent of meeting) is constructed and recorded in the last chapters of Exodus.  God is going to dwell with His people.  He is going to move with them across the Wilderness and to the Promise Land.  He needs to be in a place that is holy and has His order in place.  When I look at this book in light of God residing there I can see why all this preparation is needed.  

The priests needed to be prepared to take care of the tabernacle and the sacrifices that would be offered there.  They needed to know what types of sacrifices would be offered and how they would be done according to their kind.  They had to be consecrated themselves from High Priest Aaron on down.  They would be deemed the "holy" class performing necessary duties for the "clean" class of Israelites.


How do you live with the Almighty in the camp without a way to reconcile the imperfect with the Perfect?  The sacrificial system is born and fleshed out by God to Moses and relayed in meticulous detail to Aaron and priests.  There are 5 main offerings.  A sin offering is for forgiveness; a guilt offering is for repentance; a burnt offering is for atonement; a grain offering is for dedication and/or consecration; and a peace offering is for reconciliation and/or fellowship.  

When put in this order, which seems to come into play after the explanations of them and how to perform them in chapters 1 through 5, I see a natural pattern of my response to a perfect God.  I recognize that I need forgiveness for sin.  This prompts the normal and appropriate response of repentance.  One is called in to atone for what I have done.  A consecration is made and a dedication by myself.  This brings reconciliation and a fellowship that is in step with God.  In their system and prior to the coming of Christ and the cross, this would happen over and over and over again.

What is odd to me is that the provision of the priests was from the sacrifices that were made.  You could look at it this way, their welfare was based on how much the Israelites sinned.  Not much sinning, not much coming in, therefore skinny priests.  A lot of sinning, the priest rolling in the grain (bread), right thighs and birds, therefore plumper priests.

I think a better way would be to see the people of Israel concerned about being about repentance and in fellowship with the God who was to be in their camp.  The provision of the priests was maintained because the people of God were adhering to the Word of God given to them.  When it wasn't, like the example of Nabad and Abihu in chapter 10, then God's just justice came swiftly.  Even the priests were not exempt from following the very words of God.

One last thing to share that caught my eye was the dressing of Aaron as High Priest by Moses in chapter 8.  Again, every detail is given of Moses putting onto Aaron the clothing of a priest:  a tunic, a sash, a robe, an ephod, a band around the ephod, a breast piece, and a turban for his head.  I couldn't help but think of the armor of God found in Ephesians chapter 6:  a tunic which was girded with a belt (sash) of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, and helmet (turban) of salvation to name a few.  Put along with this 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 which reads,

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

The High Priest Aaron was prepared by Moses for his duties as chief caretaker of the message of God to the people of Israel.  How we, as God's ambassadors and messengers, are to be prepared by God's word to take God's word to the world.  The temple of God went from a portable tabernacle (tent of meeting) which was His dwelling place that the priests attended to to being our very lives where God dwells because of a once and for all sacrifice given of the willing and perfect Jesus Christ.  We now attend to the new temple with the same level of devotion to what God had said as the priests of old did.  May we dress appropriately with what God has given us to put on and realize daily that God is in the camp.

Adam