And we're back... Notes on the Rest of Leviticus

Hi everyone,

Sorry that this took so long... I had a massive amount of work to do over the course of the last week... No excuse, but even we pastors get sidetracked from time to time. Anyway, we're back to it.

What I'm going to do is just highlight a few things from the readings over the past week today, and then tomorrow I will work my way through the opening chapters of Numbers and do some highlight from there, so that, we'll at least be somewhat back on track. I hope. :)

So, here we go...

1) The Strange Fire - apparently the sons of Aaron offered a strange fire of incense before the Lord; the fire leaps out and burns them up. Why strike them dead over this? Well, because if you pay close enough attention, it seems as though it is implied that they sinned not out of ignorance but out of presumption - they assumed they knew better than God. How often do we think we know better than God, and try to handle the situations in our lives apart from God's will?

2) Clean and Unclean animals - it is from passages such as these that Israel gets it's "Kosher" laws, which have effect on diet. The New Testament seems to be clear that these laws are no longer in effect for Christians. (See Peter's incident in Acts 10).

3) Ceremonial Laws - many of these laws have to do with how a person would become clean again after having been defiled. Although strange, it was in these ways that the Israelites kept their bodies pure before God.

4) Notice how hard it is to get into God's Most Holy presence - (Lev. 16) - God's presence is holy and God's people are not (here, anyway). Aaron therefore must "make atonement" for the people. The word atone/atonement means to make an offering that will forgive sins (expiation) and turn away the wrath of God (propitiation). Notice here the institution of the Day of Atonement which is called "Yom Kippur."

5) Prohibitions of acts that were committed by the "Pagans" - some people have argued that the prohibitions of homosexuality in Leviticus are crouched within laws we no longer uphold - such as slavery, the weaving together of two kinds of fabrics, and so forth. But notice where it appears in Leviticus 18; it appears in a chapter that forbids incest, child sacrifice, etc. Yes, there are some things in this and the next chapter that don't appear such a big deal today (gleaning the entire field, sowing two kinds of seeds, eating fruit from trees within the first five years of its life), and no, I am not a "gay-bashing" person or anything like that. I am just not a fan of "prooftexting" - opening the Bible to a random passages out of context to prove a point. But I am about serious theological and biblical studies, and determining our ethical systems in response to what we learn. Thus, all I'm saying is that before we make such claims, we have to actually pay attention the context and the bigger picture.

Now the problem that arises in this passage today what the Jews were to do with people who did these things: put them to death (20:13). I DON'T ADVOCATE THIS. In fact, I advocate love and respect for the dignity of persons in the LGBT community as I do for any other human individual, regardless of who they are or what sin they commit. After all, we were to uphold all the prohibitions in here, people who curse their parents and people who commit adultery should be put to death. The suggested response to this behavior is itself a part of the civil law of Israel, which were the laws for their government. Civil and ceremonial laws are usually not carried over to Christian practice (the prohibition of weaving two types of fabric together, for instance, is not outlawed for us), while moral laws (thou shalt not steal, etc) do often have a bearing on us as Christians today. Typically, the homosexual prohibition itself is seen as a part of the moral law (especially because of how the NT [specificially Paul] views it); the call to kill them, however, is civil law, and based on this historical use of the civil law, this response is not commanded to us today (in fact, I'd say the opposite is true - we're commanded to love). Now this is not a fair and adequate treatment of the issue, but my point remains: make sure you do your homework before proof texting - because this issue, like many others, requires a great deal more research and meditation than pointing to handful of verses and making a pronouncement.

6) Why all these prohibitions? "I am the LORD your God who set you apart from the peoples" (Lev. 20:24). God has called His people to be set apart from the world and to thus serve Him. As Christians, although our salvation comes through faith by God's grace, we have been set apart from the world to serve God. That means that while our actions are not the basis of our salvation, the call to faith in Jesus Christ is a call to live differently in the world: to live as God created us (see Romans 8:1-17, for instance).

7) Sabbath Year and Jubilee - you might wonder why this matters. These were to be years of rest for the land. Very rarely were these practiced in Israel, however. They require a lot of trust and planning ahead. But where this was done, it would help the soil to be recharged so the crops could grow better. In fact, in agriculture, it is often a good idea to allow your fields to lie fallow for a year every so often (you just don't do it all at once). To us, this matters only because sometimes in our "work-a-day-every-day" world, we need to take time for rest and recharging in our lives as well. We also need to honor others when they do the same.

8) Why follow the law? Well, it was to be followed in recognition of all that God does for Israel, and to continue the good relationship between them. In return, God blessed and multiplied His people (Although he even did this, at times, in spite of their disobedience to the law - call that grace). So the law was meant to give boundaries for a relationship with God in those times, although full obedience would required for salvation were it not for the fact that God saves through faith (see Paul's letters to the Romans and the Galatians).

Well, I think that's it for today. Have a blessed afternoon.

In Christ,
Pastor Nathan