Leviticus 15:1-16:28
This is the chapter that we've all been waiting for…not. But hey, it does make you wonder a little, why we have it in the Bible. God is the one who told Moses to tell this to the people. There is a message in all of this. One message was for the nation, having to do with their view of their need. These things taught them what was holy and what was common, and what was clean and what was unclean. All of their lives and disciplines would have daily reminders of these. For us as disciples, the other message is that even though these "rules" don't apply to us, God still wants us to have a mindset that there is holiness and it is to be valued. There is a "cleanness" that is important that we should seek to maintain in behavior and attitude as we honor God. This mindset has nothing to do with "works" or earning God's love, but it has to do with a sober attitude toward where we live, and a grateful attitude toward whom we serve.
Chapter 15 follows a pattern: Man who is sick, man who is not sick, woman who is not sick, woman who is sick.
In the case of both sick people, after they were well, they were to go to the tent and make an offering of devotion and an offering for the cleansing of sin. This is easy for them to do now, since they are living around the Tabernacle, but later when they are in the land, this will mean taking a road trip (depending when they lived) to either Gilgal, then Shiloh, then Nod and finally Jerusalem. That would require obedience, but more importantly, gratefulness to God for their cure. I wonder if they ever obeyed this once they were in the land and the Tabernacle was harder to get to?
In the case of the well people, their normal bodily functions only made them "unclean." The passage of time and bathing made them clean again.
Lev. 15:1-15
This emission could have been due to disease or infection, but it is definitely sickness. One recurring thing in this section will be the seven days of cleansing followed by sacrifice.
As disciples, what is interesting to me is our response after we have recovered from something. We don't have to give an offering of devotion and an offering of cleansing and forgiveness. We offer up (if at all) a quick prayer, and we thank God that we can eat bratwurst again. Even though doctors and antibiotics are involved, we know that only God can cure. We should be grateful. This is what Israel was learning.
Lev. 15:16-18
Does this surprise you? The first part has to do with a wet-dream or masturbation. I get that. Any emission of semen made a man unclean until the evening. The second part has to do with making love, being one flesh. This is something good and, being mentioned here, was obviously in the context of marriage. This is something good and commanded and invented by God. So why the uncleanness? I think it is because of touching the semen. I think God is making a point, not because of it being "yucky," but because of it being special in some sense. As part of the reproductive process there is an aspect of the transfer of life, the transfer of sin, the fact that there is a divinely ordained miracle involved and maybe that in this miracle there is a measure of tragedy because of what is transferred along with the life.
Another thing that is interesting, is that the whole reason to be ceremonially clean, was to be wholly ready for God and to be able to receive His blessing. The "cleanness" was symbolic of total devotion and separation to God. There were times when God demanded that the people were to be clean and He gave the command (Exodus 19:15), "Be ready by the third day; do not go near a woman." It wasn't because women have cooties, it was because husband and wife were to appear before Him "clean," devoted, fully focused on Him and separated to Him. The NT version of this is, 1 Corinthians 7:5, "Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control."
Now this is not the case with us at all, but just think of the logistical ramifications there would be in our lives if we knew we couldn't go to church if we had done something the night before. It would keep our actions in the forefront of our thinking and planning. We would have to think, "Ok if I do that after 9pm, it will go into the next day so I'll be disqualified. So we'll have to do that earlier so we'll be cleansed by evening.
Since the real focus is being cleansed to stand before God, you would always be thinking about the events before you and your actions. In a positive way, it would keep your connection with God always at the top of your thinking and planning. I'm glad we don't have those laws, but I would probably benefit, as a disciple, from that kind of thinking.
Lev. 15:19-24
I just have a few notes here.
First, the reason for the longer time of cleansing here was because of the blood. Blood has a special character in the Bible, because Leviticus 17:11 says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood…"
Second, "menstrual impurity" doesn't really appear in the Hebrew. The word is either "menstruation" or "separation," but it seems that the word "impurity" was added to the range of meaning because of this context, that is, menstruation causing ceremonial uncleanness. This is one place where you want to go with the KJV or NKJV. There is nothing impure about the process and impurity isn't necessary to the translation.
In verse 24, there is the case of a husband unwittingly making love to his wife at the beginning of her period. Since he touches the blood, he too is unclean for 7 days. In a couple of chapters (18:19) he will be commanded to leave his wife alone during her "separation," or "menstruation," not her "impurity."
As said before, these commands are object lessons for the Nation of Israel, not for anyone else. God is weaving the regard for His holiness and their separation to Him, into the fabric of all they do.
Without being legalistic or rigid, it is good for us as disciples, to have a high regard for God's holiness and our lives as being separated to Him. As we live for Christ every day, following Him in the harvest, Christ becomes woven into all we do.
Lev. 15:25-30
This is a sickness and therefore the healing was followed up by sacrifice. This is the woman we just read about with the issue of blood in Mark 5:25.
Lev. 15:31-33
I made this its own section because of verse 31, explaining the purpose of these laws. The real focus was that the people should know they need to be separated unto God, coming to Him with a sense of holiness and purity. God allowed exceptions, for example, in Mark 5:25, He allowed Himself to be approached and touched by an "unclean" woman.
Lev. 16:1-28
This chapter describes the day of atonement in October. The priest could only enter the Holy of Holies one time a year. Just as an exercise in Bible study, go slowly though the chapter and try to list the order of events.
The main purpose of this event was the yearly covering of the sins of Israel. Before this could happen, Aaron and the tabernacle had to be cleansed. Aaron needed cleansing from his own sin, and the Tabernacle needed cleansing because of the effects of being surrounded by sinful people. When all these were cleansed, then payment was made for the people.
Notice that the bull and goats had different purposes.
One of the goats, the scapegoat, had the sins of the people placed on it and was sent into the wilderness to Azazel. Azazel means removal. To get the best take on this, I'll give you a couple lines from Eaton's Bible Dictionary:
This word has given rise to many different views. Some Jewish interpreters regard it as the name of a place some 12 miles east of Jerusalem, in the wilderness. Others take it to be the name of an evil spirit, or even of Satan. But when we remember that the two goats together form a type of Christ, on whom the Lord "laid the iniquity of us all," and examine into the root meaning of this word (viz., "separation"), the interpretation of those who regard the one goat as representing the atonement made, and the other, that "for Azazel," as representing the effect of the great work of atonement (viz., the complete removal of sin), is certainly to be preferred. The one goat which was "for Jehovah" was offered as a sin-offering, by which atonement was made. But the sins must also be visibly banished, and therefore they were symbolically laid by confession on the other goat, which was then "sent away for Azazel" into the wilderness.
Pretty cool. God not only forgave, but gave them a visual aid of removing their sins. Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oV4ndllEY8&feature=related
Hebrews 10:4 says, "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." It is referring to this event that only covered their sins for a year. By contrast, the sacrifice of Christ covers our sin forever.
Mark 7:1-23
One of the things you wonder about is why Jesus was so hard with the Pharisees and Scribes. I don't think we appreciate how dangerous it is to substitute our traditions for God's Word. I don't think we fully grasp how easy it is to use the Word to justify our lack of mission or fruit. And what gets lost in all of our tweaking of the Bible to conform to our lifestyle, is our understanding of God and living in authentic relationship with Him. Jesus was God and could understand their hearts and the ramifications of what they were doing and teaching.
Honoring father and mother had a very strong financial component. Honoring meant caring for them as their age increased and their health declined. A son was to shape his life accordingly, to prepare for this coming event. "Corban" was a trick that neither honored God or family. I wonder if the opposite of "Corban" was "Nabroc," giving everything meant for God, to your parents?
So what is the real point in all Jesus says about cleansing? Interesting that we're talking about cleansing here and in Leviticus. What really defiles us is within, that is, sin. Jesus makes this clear. So, what really cleanses us? That is what the Pharisees and Scribes wouldn't and couldn't find, because the answer wasn't a what, but a who. Who cleanses us is He who forgives us and then sends His Holy Spirit to live in us. Once we know Him, it is only by living in that close, daily connection in the Word and following the Spirit, that we can make sure that what comes out of us is honoring to our Father.
This is why for us as disciples, like the priest, the first order of business is to make sure we are close to Him, in love with Him, in His Word. It affects how we follow Him in the harvest, making disciples. This is why it is so important for us to be reaching out and making disciples, because without Christ, no one has a chance to be forgiven and to have the power of sin in their lives broken.
Psalm 40:11-17
I cling to verse 17.
Proverbs 10:13-14
Try putting the parallel parts together. The reason these are in couplets is because of the parallel ideas being woven together. To understand them better or see them clearer for a devotional or short lesson, sometimes rearranging them helps focus on the real comparison or contrast. Just a suggestion.
On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.
The wise lay up knowledge (to guide them?), but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense (to guide him?).
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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