365 Reflections

Only a cleansed and pure High Priest can purify the tabernacle and it's furnishings. Leviticus 16 is describing the day of Atonement, one of the most sacred days of the year for Israel. On this day the High Priest, temple and its altars are purified for the new year of operation in the worship practices of the nation. The Temple was bound to get dirty. All year long it would receive sinners and their blood sacrifices. Israelites would come to God for forgiveness and offer an appropriate sacrifice for sins. That meant one thing, the temple, even though a place for sinners to meet with God would become ritually unclean more and more over time during the year. Every sacrifice offered was offered by someone who needed cleansing. They may have left cleansed but they walked in dirty. All this called for a day of Atonement. All the sins that came into that temple had to be expunged in a symbolic ritual with blood sacrifices and other practices by ONE man - the High Priest of Israel....

Ok. Leviticus 13 is a mind bender. Here's a sample: Leviticus 13:24–28 (ESV) “Or, when the body has a burn on its skin and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a spot, reddish-white or white, 25 the priest shall examine it, and if the hair in the spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, then it is a leprous disease. It has broken out in the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a case of leprous disease. 26 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the spot and it is no deeper than the skin, but has faded, the priest shall shut him up seven days, 27 and the priest shall examine him the seventh day. If it is spreading in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a case of leprous disease. 28 But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread in the skin, but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar of the burn. Now, if you don't feel b...

Leviticus 12:1–5 (ESV) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. 3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. 5 But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days. Sin comes from without and within. That is the lesson here in Leviticus 12. Where chapter 11 deals primarily with those things outside of man that pollute him or bring contamination, so too there are things (normal things) that come out of us that will pollute us before God. How does God communicate this to His people? ...