Blogging the Bible

I remember back some years ago my family and I were invited to go to a private recreational club in Caracas- Venezuela.  After some time there, I decided to go for a swim in their pool. Soon after I was finished, I was walking around without wearing my t-shirt; suddenly a worker approached me and asked that I put on my t- shirt. I replied asking him why? He responded back to me if I could see the signs? On the signs, the rules were posted, I had not other option but to put my shirt back on. While I put my shirt on I was also complaining of all the many rules that this place had and how they did not make any sense to me. At that time my brother in law who is an official of the army told me: “So, to many rules? What about the laws of God, will you ask him why so many rules? The comment he made ended all my complaints for that day.

Reading through the book of Leviticus it will sometimes make you feel like there are too many rules and that they do not make any sense, right? But do not worry; just remember like the rules in the private recreational club made sense to their members, so did the rules mentioned in Leviticus make sense to the ancient Israelites. More overwhelming as it may sound to us today, according to some studies the Israelites have fairer laws than the nations around them.

One thing that is very important to keep in mind as you progress in your bible reading is the larger picture of what God was doing. This was forming a nation that will be “a light” for the rest of the world. At the beginning God looks like an authoritarian Father who is after every detail to please himself, but when you read it more carefully, you will see a wonderful and compassionate father who is trying to care for everybody in any means possible.

Keep reading and keep asking questions, together we also will find more sense in our everyday readings.

God definitely was creating a  new nation. Everything that he had forbidden the Israelites to do was the regular everyday practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites. These nations consulted the mediums and wizards; as well as committed adultery.

The Israelites would have to be different because their God was different than the local deities. The Lord told them: “You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.” (Leviticus 20: 26)

The holiness of the people of Israel will be demonstrated for the types of priests they have, the types of offerings they present and the kind of celebrations they participate in, as well as their personal and family life styles. Everything was centered on God and his expectation instead of the traditions of the people or their human desires.

Today we are not that different from the Israelites in terms of choosing what will express our commitment to God and our lifestyle. There are many invitations around offering us to worship everything else but the real God, and to please ourselves rather than the only One who is worthy of praise.

How are our lives expressing God’s holiness?

  It is amazing how many details and repetitions this book has. It seems that these ceremonies are meant to overwhelm people about their relationship with God. But one thing is for sure, with all this details and rules, God is sending a powerful message to his people, and that message becomes clear. For example when we read in Leviticus 18: 2-3 “I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt,where you lived,and you shall not do as they doin the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing to you. You shall not follow their statute”

The Lord is creating a new people, people who will really reflect his love and holiness. He is not interested in some “updated imitations” of the world. (Like Egypt orCanaan). Even thou God was using the same cultural background of the time, the meaning was totally different.

 Life under the almighty God Should be different, the Israelites were shaped by the costumes and practices of the Egyptians. But God was now trying to make clear to them that their life style shouldn’t be based on their past (Egypt) or a new life style (Canaan) that somebody else might be interested in sharing with them. Instead God wanted them to live a new way of life, one that God himself would help them develop.

 He said to them: “You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18: 5) now it’s not what somebody else thinks or will think, but what the Lord says or thinks.

Apostle Paul also said to the church in Rome “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God- what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12: 2) So do not get tired with the details but instead, with the help of the Holy Spirit find a way to discern the will of God, which is good, acceptable and perfect.

Two reminders as you read through this section on the law. First, this is an ancient world being addressed and reading it with 21st century eyes only will create great difficulty.  Any literature from another time requires “historical imagination” which helps the reader to understand what is read a little bit through the eyes of a person who lived at that time. This is where your study bible notes will help a great deal. Though we cannot completely rid ourselves of our modern mindset, keeping the principle in mind will prevent a great deal of misunderstanding and confusion. 

Second, keep your wide angle lens close by! As you read the details of the law that was given, keep in mind the primary purposes of God in revelation.  They are twofold:  to reveal himself and to redeem a people for his glory. God uses the common and everyday circumstances of people throughout the ages in order to reveal himself.  The bible actual proves itself reliable by NOT omitting the bizarre and unseemly. It is a true record of all sorts of human behavior–good and bad.

With this in mind, two observations about these chapters come from this wider angle view. First, in an ancient culture without the marvels of modern medicine, God cares about the health of his people.  He provided ways to protect the people from widespread infection through these laws.  But at the same time, he uses the ceremonial imagery as a tutor to help the people understand an even greater need for protection.  Just as physical disease threatens individuals and communities, spiritual disease–sin–does the same. Only the threat is even greater from sin. It is eternal!  So the ceremonial cleansing was used as a visible symbol of the need for cleansing from sin.  Much of the detail in the ceremonial cleansing is later referenced in the New Testament in relation to salvation through Christ.

Second, the laws regarding childbirth are also  believed to be symbolic of a spiritual reality.  The imagery of cleansing related to birth reflects the biblical teaching that all are born in sin. David’s Psalm 51 echoes this as does Romans 3.  All humankind is born into a fallen and sinful state, separated from God by Adam and Eve’s rebellion and disobedience (Romans 5) which is only confirmed by our own. (Remember, you do not have to teach a child to say “no” or to lie.  We think of children as innocent, but clearly they are not.) The ritual cleansing required of a woman after birth represented this reality.

God is in the details! But the details are only understand with  the wider view in mind. God is intimately involved with the details of the lives of the Israelites (an ancient people) in order to reveal himself and draw them with his great love.

9:23-10:3 clearly display just how important it is to acknowledge God’s holiness through obedience. The consequences of obedience in 9:23ff is clear–God appeared to them and was pleased (burned up the sacrifices) and the people were filled with joy. The severe consequences of disobedience 10:1-3 is shocking. Yet this clearly expresses just how holy God is and how very important it is to obey him.

One of the most important overarching principles of how God acts in the Old Testament is tied intimately to the New Testament.  God acts in severity in the OT because he is in the process of implementing his plan of salvation for all people (old and new, ancient and modern) that is fully revealed in the NT.  This principle is called “the cradle of salvation.”  In the OT God is bringing to reality is promise of Genesis 2 that God would provide a way for humankind to be reconciled (“he will crush his head [the Messiah's victory over death], and you will strike his heal [Jesus' suffering the cross]“. The severity of God’s judgment is a result of his protecting his plan of salvation for the whole world! God had promised that the “seed” would come through Abraham–through Israel.  So to keep this motley group of people together as a nation long enough to bring about the promised Messiah was essential.  If they messed up and split up the promise was at risk.  So God gave them laws and governed them severly to make sure that his promise would be realized.  In the process, Israel saw and we see that God is not to be taken lightly. There are great blessings waiting for those who hear and obey but also judgment for those who do not.

Over and over the phrase is repeated, “I am the Lord.” This is the reason for all that we should do and the justification for all that God does.  He is Lord. There is no other.  The simple choice is to believe and follow or not believe and go our own way with staggering consequences.

A couple of things stand out in these first chapters about offerings for sin. Blood is a dominant principle in the sacrificial system.  You remember that in Exodus the Israelites learned that the “life is in the blood.”  Blood represents life.  So when a man’s blood was shed, life was required as punishment.  In the sacrificial system the blood represents this principle. The wages of sin is death says Romans 3:23.  The blood of the sacrificial animal represents this penalty.  You might remember that when God delivered the people from Egypt he had them put blood on the door posts of their homes.  The angel of death would see this blood and pass over that home and spare the lives of those inside.  This blood sacrifice is fully revealed in the cross of Christ where he shed his blood for the forgiveness of sin.

These chapters also highlight unintentional sin.  The message is clear. Even shen we sin unknowingly, we are still guilty. This should not surprise us.  If you are not paying attention and speeding down the road, you are still guilty of breaking the law and can get a ticket. God is so holy that there is no excuse that releases us from the penalty of breaking his laws. This is very bad news.  But the good news is already being revealed in Leviticus.  God so loved the world that he provided a way for our broken relationship with him to be reconciled.  God gave the law to Israel as a teacher to lead them to understand his holiness and their sin. Then, just at the right time, he sent his only Son to be the sacrifice for our sin–once for all!

The wide angle lens of Leviticus reveals a very holy God who loves his people very much and is working tirelessly to help them believe it.

Don’t get lost in the detail! Scholars have spent their entire lives researching and understanding this book about the laws of Israel. These laws are primarily about the worship and government of Israel.  But if you will read them with a wider angle lens, you will see revealed the holiness of God. This is the primary purpose of the ordering of their worship. In these pages we  learn just how very holy this God, Jehovah, is. And by contrast we learn just how sinful and need of his mercy we are. You notice I said, “we” and not “they.” The bible reveals a holy God and sinful humankind. They are us!

The animals used as sacrifices  for sin are to be  “without defect.”   Other translations say “without spot or blemish.”  This is a very consistent theme.  The sacrifice for sin must be perfect.  The grain offering is without yeast, which represents contamination. This perfect sacrifice is a very important part of the teaching about who God is.  God is holy and requires holiness from his people.  But humankind is sinful–we disobeyed God. That requires punishment. But God in his love, from the first sin committed, has provided a way for our broken relationship to be restored. The sin offering is a tutorial in God’s provision for our sin.  Galatians 3:22-25 says that the law was a “tutor” to teach us that we are sinners and that we need a savior. The perfect, without defect sacrifices of Leviticus are a tutorial preparing us for the coming of Christ who would be the perfect sacrifice for sin.  Jesus, who knew no sin (without defect), became sin for us (defected), so that we  might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

As you read through Leviticus, use a wide angle lens. In this view is revealed a holy and loving God who is trying to teach us.  In Leviticus God is seen rescuing a weak and sinful people.  Like a parent who grounds a child to protect them from harm, God places limitations on us, not out of capriciousness, but out of love and mercy. Just like a rebellious child, we resist.  And just like a loving parent, he persists. Thank God!

“As the Lord commanded” ocurrs 28 times in the book of Exodus.  It is an important key to the meaning of the story. Equally important is the phrase that is repeated twice in the last few verses of the book, “the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”

The first phrase describes the people’s attention to doing what God told them to do.  Fresh from being delivered from Egypt, 6-15, fresh from all the provisions of God in their wilderness journey, 16-31, and fresh from experiencing the judgment of disobedience in chapter 32, the people learned, the hard way, to do what God commanded them to do…every detail! Oh, if only they had continued to obey God this well! The rest of the story will reveal how quickly they turned away from trusting and obeying God.

The second phrase repeated at the end is the absolute evidence of God’s faithfulness to his word.  God promised to be with them–to live with them– and he did.  When they had done all that he commanded them, God then filled the temple with his presence and was with them day and night.  God gave them a visible sign of his presence just as he had promised.  And God led the people as long as they would follow.  The problem, as usual, is human sin.  The very basic foundation of ALL human sin is rebellion.  It is rebellion against what God says and trusting in our own wisdom and ways rather than God’s word.  Every sin stems from this prideful arrogance.  We really are deluded into thinking we know better.  I Cor. 10 tells us that all these stories were written for us as an example of what happens when we obey or when we disobey the Lord.  Reading the story of the Israelites reveals our own propensity to rebel.  Oh that we would learn! The Lord longs for us to live with him and to be blessed. 

Reading through the bible can be a life-changing exercise.  If we see God as he is revealed and we see ourselves reflected in the stories, we can turn away or we can bow down. Either way, God’s glory will fill the earth.

Talk about detail! Some scholars have spent their lives researching and understanding the significance of every part of the tabernacle and how it was put together.

The Ark of the Covenant is an excellent example of God using something very practical and culturally significant to communicate something spiritual and eternally true. Such receptacles were used in other cultic practices of the time.  For Israel, the Ark was  the place where Moses put  the two tablets containing the law God had given the people (25:16,21; called the ‘covenant stipulations’) and also a  pot of manna and Aaron’s rod (See Heb. 9:4,5). The Ark served as a symbol of the divine presence of God that was guiding his people. It marked the meeting place in the inner sanctuary where God revealed his will to his servants. Thus, the Ark was a visible symbol of the invisible and divine presence of God living with and guiding his people.

The significance of the Ark in representing God’s presence with the people can be seen in the following events of scripture:

Crossing the Jordan   Jos. 3-4

Fall of Jericho              Jos. 6

Remembering the Covenant  Jos. 8

With the judges at Shiloh  1 Sa. 1:3; 3:3

Plagues on the Philistines  1 Sa. 4ff

Tent of Jerusalem  2 Sa.6 and  15:24-29

Dedication of Temple    1 Ki. 8:1ff

Sanctuary during Josiah  2Chron. 35:3

Jeremiah’s  view     Jer. 3:16

The story of the Ark is the story of God using ordinary people and ordinary things to accomplish extraordinary and eternal goals.  So, don’t get bogged down in the details. Be in awe of the great and wonderful God they reveal!

I am so excited that this week is my week to blog on our bible reading.  These three chapters in Exodus are perhaps my favorite in the first five books of the bible. This is going to be very hard to blog “lightly!”

Once again, we must remember that God revealed himself to these people right where they were, not where he wished they were.  God came to them in their blinded and distorted and sinful way of life (sacrificing animals and people, worshipping idols fashioned with precious metals, carrying out revenge upon each other) and used these very things to try and communicate what kind of a God he is–so very different than the gods that are man made!

Three important truths about God revealed in this narrative:

FIRST.  God really wants to be in relationship with us–a partnership not a dictatorship. In chapter 32 Moses has a conversation with God that changes his mind! How can this be? The scripture in another place says that God does not change his mind (Numbers 23:19). This is not a contradiction. The difference is that when God is working through us to accomplish his purposes we actually make a difference!  God does not change his mind willy nilly like we do. But he offers us to be partners with him in this holy mission of reconciling the world to himself and making his glorious name known to all people.  In that task he invites us to be decision-makers and movers and shakers. That is what Moses was.  He was a human person, sinner, privileged upbringing, anger and murder in his past. But God loved him–knew his name! And God work with Moses to get the job done.  Moses argued with God based on God’s own revealed character. Moses says, “What will the Egyptians say about you if you destroy the people here?” Moses is giving praise to God who had shown himself powerful AND merciful in his delivering the people from Egypt. All the nations were speaking of the favor of this God they observed resting on these people.  God would not–could not–go against his own character! But isn’t it amazing that God spoke with Moses as with a friend (33:11) and allowed him to be part of this revelation?!

SECOND. God is so much greater than anything we can imagine or comprehend in our finite existence. Even though we have already read that people in ancient times “saw” God. We know that they did not see all that God is, rather, they saw God in some form they could comprehend.  In chapter 33 Moses asks to “see” God.  He does not mean only visually, but is asking to see God’s glory! Wow! This is a bold request.  But Moses knows the difficult task ahead with these “stiff-necked” people and knows that he is going to need a very powerful God to be able to do what lies ahead.  God listens  (once again!) to Moses and says that he will “make his goodness pass by” him.  But the imagery of the story clearly reveals that Moses could NOT see all of God and live.  He would not survive the awesome holiness and WHOLENESS of God’s glory.  So God “covers” him until he is almost entirely passed by and then “removes his hand” so that Moses sees only the “back” of God.  This is amazing with a dash of humor.  If I was going to show someone only part of me, it wouldl not be my back side! What an incredible God this is.  He accomodates Moses’ ill-conceived request (it would kill him!) but does it in a way that protects him from harm and gives him what he needs to continue to do what God has asked him to do.

THIRD. The God revealed here is BOTH holy and merciful. We cannot have one without the other. This is revealed in the names proclaimed. The significance of the names of God revealed in this story–what God calls himself–are worth spending a lot of time researching.  The most amazing is the juxtaposition of God’s mercy and justice in verse seven.  God’s love is steadfast to the 1000th generation (forget four or five!) and he forgives wickedness and sin BUT he does not clear the guilty.  This is the holiness of God (punishes sin) and the mercy of God (forgives sinners) that is represented in the sacrifices of the priests of Israel but finally fully revealed in the giving of his only beloved Son. This is an amazing God!

I can hear the choir and GIVEN now…”What a mighty God we serve!”