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site allows you to select from several languages and several English
translations.
FEBRUARY 24
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 before
God. 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 how they stood before God. 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 to be holiness in how we live before the
Lord and that holiness is to be valued. There is a "cleanness" that
is important that we should seek to maintain in our behavior and attitudes as
we honor God. This mindset has nothing to do with "works" or earning
God's love, but it has to do with having a sober attitude toward where we live,
and a grateful attitude toward whom we serve.
One of the challenges today is to think of why chapter 15 comes before
chapter 16 topically. I think it has to do with the fact that chapter 15 deals
with very regular parts of life and ceremonial cleanness, that is, readiness to
worship at the tabernacle. Chapter 16 has to do with the national Day of
Atonement. If you understand the importance of chapter 16, chapter 15 is
letting people know that before that day or any of the important days of
worship, (the Passover, for example) they needed to plan their lives
accordingly so they would be ceremonially clean and able to worship at the
tabernacle. This reminds me of what God told Moses to tell the people when they
were about to come before the mountain and make the Mosaic Covenant in Exodus
19:15. Apparently this command didn't have anything to do with cooties.
Leviticus 15
This chapter 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 most 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.
Vs. 1-12 These general rules seem to apply to anyone who has any
emission. Notice that it means that if it involves intercourse, both people are
unclean and the sheets have to be washed.
Vs. 13-15 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. There is one suggestion I read
that linked this to gonorrhea. Who knows? This meant that this person was a
perpetual hazard to people who wanted to be ceremonially clean. Also, when this
person was cured, they would have to travel to the tabernacle, wherever it was,
and offer sacrifices for their cleansing. I wonder if they did.
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 need to remember that only God can cure. We should
be grateful. This is what Israel was learning.
Vs. 16-18 Does this surprise you? Since this involved the normal
functions of life, it was cleansed by water and a person didn't need a
sacrifice or a trip to Jerusalem. If it had required a trip and a sacrifice,
that would have really kept the population down.
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 in Exodus 19:15, Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman. As already
mentioned, it probably 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 deprive one another, except
perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to
prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because
of your 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 9 p.m., 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.
Vs. 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… Also, the blood after menstruation is "dead."
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.
Yucky might work, but not impurity.
In v. 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 seven days. In Leviticus 18:19, husbands will be commanded to leave
their wives alone during the wife's "separation," or
"menstruation."
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 daily 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.
Vs. 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.
Vs. 31-33 I made this its own section because of v. 31, explaining the
purpose of these laws. The real focus was that the people should know they
needed to be separated unto God, coming to Him with a sense of holiness and
purity. God allowed exceptions; for example, in Mark 5:25, the Son of God
allowed Himself to be approached and touched by an "unclean" woman.
Leviticus 16:1-28
This chapter describes the Day of Atonement in October. The priest
could only enter the Most Holy Place one time a year. Just as an exercise in
Bible study, go slowly though the chapter and try to list the order of events.
Vs. 1-5 Aaron and his sons were only to go beyond the veil into the Most
Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement. God says it is because of the
mercy seat and His glory being in that place. What is emphasized here is that
Aaron could only come in with the blood of the sacrifices and, first, as a
sinner needing forgiveness and serving the people. It isn't until v. 23 that
Aaron wears the high priest's clothing.
Vs. 6-10 This explains what the animals are for. That second goat is
very significant in the symbolism that God is building into Israel, and it has
something to do with us and our understanding of Jesus.
Vs. 11-14 This is Aaron's sacrifice for his own sins. Notice that the
censer had to be filled with holy fire from the altar of sacrifice. Also it is
significant that the entire place had to be smoked up. If that represents
prayer, I'll bet we don't pray enough. Hebrews refers to what we're reading
here, especially Hebrews 9. Jesus, as our high priest, had no need to offer a
sacrifice for Himself since He was sinless.
Vs. 15-19 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.
Vs. 20-22 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.
Vs. 23-28 After this cleansing of Aaron and the tabernacle, Aaron would
put on his high priest's clothing and be ready to offer other sacrifices for
the Day of Atonement. Notice that everyone that is associated with taking the
offerings out, etc., is required to wash with water.
This is all pretty cool. God not only forgave, but He gave them a
visual aid of removing their sins. Their sins were loaded on a scapegoat, and
they watched the animal pass out of sight, taking their sins farther and farther
away. That is a symbol of what Jesus did for each of us. Psalm 103:12 - As far as the east is from
the west, So far does He remove our transgressions from us.
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. That forgiveness and
relationship with God is something good to take into the harvest as we follow
our Lord.
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 anything, including 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.
Vs. 1-5 Isn't it interesting that they went after Jesus on the topic of
being ceremonially clean. These traditions of the elders were not in the Bible.
They were rules, however, that became law for every Jew.
Vs. 6-13 Notice how Jesus shows them that rather than honoring God,
they are fulfilling a prophetic judgment that God gave through Isaiah.
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
honored neither God nor family. I wonder if the opposite of Corban was "Nabroc," giving
everything meant for God, to your parents. J
Vs. 14-23 One note here is that after Jesus taught this in public,
humiliating the Pharisees, it intensified their hatred for Him and He had to
leave Judea for a while.
So what is the real point in all Jesus says about cleansing? It’s
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 broken
in their lives.
Psalm 40:11-17
V. 11 After that great declaration of yesterday, David states his
confidence in the Lord and in His steadfast
love and faithfulness. It looked
like David's trials were over but they weren't. It is interesting to me that
God gave David many small deliverances in all the years he ran from Saul, but
He made David learn slowly, waiting for the day when all would be at peace.
That is so much like how God works with us. He teaches us to depend on Him as
we follow in the harvest, not making our lives easy, but showing us over and
over that He is faithful and that He loves us. I think of Paul in this regard.
God didn't heal Paul, but made His grace sufficient for all of Paul's needs.
Paul said that he gloried in his weakness because when he was weak, he was
strong - probably living on his knees before God like David was.
Vs. 12-15 David was harassed and being pursued.
Vs. 16-17 My heart clings to these verses, realizing that in order for
me to say these as David did, I need to walk through those same valleys with
God. That's how David and Paul learned. That's how disciples in the harvest
learn, and the reward of living closely with our Lord is worth it.
Proverbs 10:13-14
Try putting the parallel parts together. The reason these are in
couplets is because of the parallel ideas that are 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 being
made. 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?).
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are 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, that is, 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 and important discipleship manual we have and it is the 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, or whom we are to be following. 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, as disciples, 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,
making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
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. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the essential
essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C. Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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