Day 37. Leviticus 22-24

Leviticus 22-24

Leviticus 22

²Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the LORD.

Remember how much god hates the wrong fire, he killed Nadab and Abihu for it.

³Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD.

Having his uncleanliness could be many things, it could just be that he had sex.

⁴What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;

⁵Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;

⁶The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water.

⁷And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it is his food.

here's a list of things that make you unclean: having the sin skin disease, an ooze, touch a dead thing, have sex, touch a creeping thing, touch someone who was unclean.

¹⁰There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.

Now we get a list of who can and can't eat the offerings.

Can't: strangers, daughter who marries a stranger.

Can: Priests slaves; priests daughter who is a widow, divorced, and has no child, returned to her father.

God then says that offerings have to be perfect, they can't have faults.

²²Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD.

God likes perfection, and if you are making the rules to feed your family, I'm sure you do to.

³²Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you,

³³That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.

He keeps mentioning that he brought them out of Egypt, at this point, the people really aren't happy about that.

Leviticus 23

This chapter is feasts.

Sabbath
³Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Passover
⁵In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.

Day of Atonement stuff
²⁴Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

²⁷Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Tabernacles
³⁴Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

Booths

⁴¹And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

⁴²Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

Leviticus 24

²Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.

Continually, of course, that would require either a tabernacle or a temple, neither of which are currently going.

⁹And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.

That's a major assumption to make, going out that someone will want to be the chief priest, generations into the future. Of course, why wouldn't you want the job?

¹⁰And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

¹¹And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)

This is a rather odd story to just toss in, while Moses is saying that they are to have oil in the candles continually.

¹⁴Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

¹⁵And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

This is a time when the wages of sin actually was death.

²⁰Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

Exactly why this is repeated from Exodus 21:24, I'm not sure.

²²Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.

Except, there isn't the same law. All the laws are for neighbors, which are people like you. Not for the stranger.

Points to ponder:

1. Nepotism is awesome, if you are the one benefiting from it.

2. Cleanliness is next to godliness, but it's not cleanliness, it's not-UNcleanliness. Being good isn't necessarily the same thing as being NOT BAD.

3. Quit complaing that you haven't done anything wrong, when frankly, you haven't done much of anything.