Leviticus 13
Now,
since I'm not a doctor, I won't be much help on this section, except, possibly,
for comic relief.
It
appears to me that this law for leprosy really signifies that leprosy was being
used by God as a kind of object lesson. I don't think God is devoting two
chapters to this because man hadn't developed a cure yet or that this disease
was rampant in the society. Why didn't God give them a chapter on cancer or
heart disease or VD? I think the reason leprosy is an issue is that God was
using it as a way to visually show Israel what being "unclean" meant
in His eyes. He was also giving them an image of what the spread of sin looked
like, physically, spiritually, or socially. According to the Bible Knowledge
Commentary-OT, p. 192, there is no evidence that leprosy was a huge health
danger back then, and the descriptions given could cover many diseases or
simply leprosy in its very early stages. Equally important, in everything that
is said in chapter 13, is the vigilance and early detection of the outbreak.
In all
you read here, it seems that Israel was to be set on the lookout for this
disease or any outbreak or anything out of the ordinary on man, beast, clothing
or building. They were to catch it at its earliest stage. It looks like this
was to create an alert society toward personal sin and toward cultural sin. The
main person in this was the priest, not the doctor. You didn't need to bring
suspected cases of cancer to him (although with the Urim and Thummim that
wouldn't have been a bad idea), but in all suspected "outbreaks" he
became the examiner. That is significant to God's purpose. As you read this,
underline the repeated uses of the priest
shall pronounce him.
We
might be tempted to look at God's warning to Israel, to beware of any
"outbreak," as paranoia or incitement to a witch hunt; but I think it
was a kind of healthy caution that we dismiss. Even as disciples, we treat sin
as a silly, three-letter "boogie man." Sin is the greatest
destructive force on the planet. Paul and the Spirit say it is a spiritual
force. Sin is not just "missing the mark;" it is a power, pulsing in
our souls that grows and creeps and infects. Leprosy is a fantastic picture of
it. Without the indwelling Spirit and the cleansing agent of the Word, we would
be absolutely "leprous," and all that we touched would be unclean. We
can still be that if we decide to ignore God enough. Look at the church in 1
Corinthians.
What
is interesting to me, and I'll probably say it tomorrow too, that although there
was a provision for being healed from leprosy, until Jesus, no Israelite was
ever cleansed. Didn't the lepers come to God for healing? Maybe not. The first
time Jesus gets thrown out of Nazareth, He says to the people there, And
there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the
prophet Elisha, and none of them
was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. (Luke 4:27) And the whole
synagogue went crazy. In the entire Old Testament, cleansing from leprosy (and
the faith thereof) was only found in Naaman the Syrian, a Gentile, and then,
only because he had good servants.
Vs.
1-46 This has to do with an outbreak of leprosy or some kind on a person.
Notice that vs. 45-46 are a summary statement.
V. 29
I fully agree with this verse. If a woman has a disease on her beard, there is
definitely something wrong.
V. 40
Whatever happened to "The verse of the day?" This custom has fallen
on hard times today, whereas in days of yesteryear, many a soul has been helped
by the verse of the day appearing on doors or screen savers. Years ago, I
swapped out the church secretary's verse for my own (I was a seminary student
then, not the pastor.) out of this chapter. I like it better in the RSV, and
feel free to use this where appropriate.
Leviticus
13:40 "If a man's hair has fallen from his head,
he is bald but he is clean.
Vs.
47-59 This is an outbreak of some sort on animal skins or cloth.
Again,
in thinking about sin, as disciples, is it possible that the disease can spread
to stuff? Can stuff be polluted by our sin and can we be polluted by stuff? I'm
obviously using a very broad view of "stuff." Oddly enough in German,
"stuff" (Stoffe) means cloth.
Mark 6:1-29
Vs.
1-6 This was Jesus' second visit to Nazareth. The first visit was at the
beginning of His ministry, and now
He was the most popular man in Israel. It was a gracious thing for Jesus to return, considering they tried to kill Him the first time. It mentions that His disciples were with Him now, meaning not just the Twelve, but the large group that followed Him. It was like the American Idol winner coming home.
He was the most popular man in Israel. It was a gracious thing for Jesus to return, considering they tried to kill Him the first time. It mentions that His disciples were with Him now, meaning not just the Twelve, but the large group that followed Him. It was like the American Idol winner coming home.
V. 2
These questions seem to imply that they were impressed with Jesus.
V. 3
This shows what they really felt. A carpenter was a lowly blue-collar worker.
To name Jesus by His mother was demeaning in that culture. Even if your father
was dead, you were still referred to as his son. The people were hardened in
unbelief. They knew His family; they knew Him, so, big deal. The word "offense"
means "to stumble." Jesus wasn't so special, and now the religious
authorities had "explained" Jesus' power.
Vs.
5-6 The fact that Jesus could not heal many doesn't mean that His power didn't
work, like He could only get "one bar" of connection to God's power
or that He had a slow download speed because of their dense hearts. It means
that they didn't bring many sick people to Him to be healed.
Vs.
6-13 Jesus had prepared the Twelve to do this by example. This is a good
discipleship principle. Show people how to do things by example, doing it with
them. They had seen Jesus enter town after town for the past year, and the
Father had always provided. Both Matthew and Luke say that they were not to
"acquire" a staff. Apparently they were allowed to take the one they
already had.
Vs.
12-13 I'm always amazed at the simple message and the power the Lord gave them.
By the way, Jesus also went out preaching, but He wasn't alone. All the other
disciples and the women who accompanied them were with Him. In Acts 1:20-23 it
mentions two disciples, Joseph and Matthias, who had been with Jesus from the
beginning just like the others. These two guys were there but not chosen to be
part of the Twelve.
Vs.
14-29 Jesus' popularity was still climbing, and now that the disciples were
going out and performing cures and miracles, apparently the talk increased. We
covered this in Matthew, so I'll only add a couple of comments.
Vs.
14-16 These "guesses" as to Jesus' identity will be mentioned again
when Jesus asks the disciples, and Peter confesses that He is the Christ.
Apparently Herod had a guilty conscience.
Vs.
17-29 This is a "flashback" to what happened to result in John's
death.
I
don't know what lessons you get from this section, but I'm always struck that
John's ministry might not have been as long as his imprisonment. It's hard to
find dates, but the consensus is that John sat in prison a long time, perhaps a
year.
Today,
we still look at "success" as a measure of blessing. I think as
disciples, faithfulness is our real goal in following Christ in the harvest.
Romans 8 assures us that in everything God works for good with those who love
Him, who are called according to His purpose. However, we have to trust that
God and what He does is good even if we don't understand it. Look at Abe and
Moses. They spent many years trusting God out in the wilderness. John was
faithful in his testimony and service. And then he was faithful in prison,
fulfilling God's plan for him.
Psalm 39
Vs.
1-3 It appears that David tried to cope with his situation by just keeping his
mouth closed, but the situation caused him real questions regarding the justice
and purpose in life. It is interesting that this is very much like what
happened to Job. Job didn't sin with his mouth, but things did boil within him
until he had to express his frustration and desire to understand God's purpose.
Vs.
4-6 How would you title this? What is David's question? It seems, like Job,
that David wants to understand God's purpose.
Vs.
7-11 How many men in the Bible have we already read of who had to put their
hope in the Lord and had to wait? Waiting in hope and trust is the norm, not
the exception.
Vs.
12-13 It is interesting that David cries out like this with such distress and
need. It is just as interesting that God brought him to the place where David
had to cry out like this, to encourage us to wait on the Lord and cry out like
this too.
As
disciples, it is in God's plan to bring us to places like this to learn, as
David did, that life is short; and when we can't understand God, it is better
to be silent publicly in our waiting, and privately, to be crying out knowing
that our hope is in Him alone.
Proverbs 10:10
After
reading this, I really have a hard time winking at people, except to encourage
them. Otherwise, it smacks of deceit and hiding. And the message about babbling
seems to be that if you don't have anything to say, don't say it. Fools babble,
not the wise.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/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 interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each
other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
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, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
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.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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