365 Reflections

The theme of a kinsman redeemer runs throughout the Bible. Someone has become poor through whatever circumstance and a close relative must come and purchase his freedom. We see that theme played out in discussions concerning the year of Jubilee. The last section in the chapter is a peculiar instance whereby a member of Israel may become poor and sell themselves to a stranger. Leviticus 25:47–49 (ESV)   “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan, 48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he grows rich he may redeem himself. In this case, it is important to note that God instructs His people to purchase their fellow brothers out of slavery. There is not to be a perpetual slavery for God's chosen p...

When you really think about it, all we have is land. Our homes come from the trees that the land produces. Our precious metals are hidden in the land. Our vitamins and healing agents come from mixtures of the components in the land. The Bible opens by telling us that we come from the dust of the land. The land is our life. We eat its produces, we enjoy it's shade, we marvel at it's natural undisturbed beauty. The land is truly God's gift to us. And yet the land reminds us constantly that it is NOT ours. It is unruly and hard to manage. It requires extraordinary patience and incredible amounts of work to get it to produce for us. It is also subject to the curse of sin and awaits its own redemption at the appearing of the Son of God. We need the land, use the land and we must appreciate the land. Leviticus 25-26 is about the Land that God is going to give to His people. Leviticus 25:2 (ESV)   “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the lan...

At the end of Leviticus 24 is a curious story about a boy who blasphemes the name of God. Leviticus 24:10–12 (ESV)   Now an Israelite woman’s son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11 and the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 And they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them. Why is this here? And how does it relate to the passage to come about the legal system God enacts called, "lex talionis" or "eye for an eye"?  The first thing this passage reveals is more information as to Israel's relationship with Egypt. We have a mixed marriage. An Egyptian man took a Hebrew slave as his wife and produced offspring. Then perhaps that man left Egypt with the Israelites out of fear of the Lord? We can...

Leviticus 24:1–3 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. We take for granted the ability to light our homes. An electric current that conveniently powers all of our rooms and even outside our homes is one of the modern world's most incredible developments. Yet in the ancient world and even as little as 150 years ago, this idea was unheard of. Think of wandering in the wilderness and living in times before electricity. It had to be fearful. The world gets very dark when there's no lights around to switch on.  It is in that understanding that we come to the rules of the Tabernacle for the people of Israel. The people were to all partake of making ...

Leviticus 23:1–2 (ESV)  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations ; they are my appointed feasts. We come now to the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. It is the chapter that outlines the three festivals for Israel's calendar. There are seven feasts listed in Leviticus. The three main festivals are Passover, Pentecost and Booths/Tabernacles. These three feasts represent the three stages of our life with God. Passover represents our deliverance from bondage to sin. Pentecost represents our fulness in the power of the Spirit and Booths represents our ultimate home in heaven with God where the dwelling place (tabernacle) of God is finally and forever with man. The word that is often repeated in the chapter is "convocation", appearing 11 times. When a word appears that often in one chapter, we need to explore it a bit further. "Convocation"...

Leviticus is known mostly for one main theme: Holiness. Holiness is not moral superiority. Holiness refers to sacredness or set apart(ness) for God and His people. It is clear here in Levitus 22, which wraps up the holiness code begun way back in Leviticus 17 that all that God's stipulations are meant to do two things - to set Israel apart from the nations around them and to set their God apart from all the gods of those nations. Leviticus 22:9 (ESV)  They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the LORD who sanctifies them. The word for sanctify here shows up 15 times in Leviticus - more than any other book in the Pentateuch and it means to be hallowed, holy, sanctified; to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate.  Israel was to obey God's stipulations about sacrifices, priesthoods and daily life because they were dedicated to God's purposes. This nation was to stand apart from all the other nations of t...

The restrictions on the priesthood for Israel in Leviticus 21 are pointing to two realities. First, the priesthood of believers - a people who are presented to Gods service through Christ's atonement for pure and life giving ministry to God's purposes. The chapter continues these them turning now to a strange set of stipulations appears: Leviticus 21:16–21 (ESV) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shal...

Christianity is about life. That's one thing the scriptures make patently clear. God brings life, God raise to life, Christ defeats death, Christ is the light of life. Christ has come that we may have abundant life. "Let the dead bury their dead" Jesus says. Our mission is a mission of life. It is in this perspective that we turn to Leviticus 21. This can be a confusing chapter. God gives words of instructions through Moses to His priests. Here's what He says: Leviticus 21:1–4 (ESV) And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. There will be no going to funerals ...

Your body belongs to God. He made it, He formed it, He loves it, He cares for it. The Bible is clear that what we do with our bodies sexually can be either beneficial or tremendously harmful. The laws of Leviticus 20 outline this reality with a repeated word, "nakedness." Leviticus 20:17–21 (ESV) “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 If ...