The Weird Law About the Water and The Wife
The various clans of the Levites are given responsibility for the maintenance and moving of the tabernacle parts, but before they are able to move everything, Aaron and his sons have to cover the materials so that the Levites won’t be killed by touching holy things.
And then we come to the strange law regarding the jealous husband who suspects his wife has been fooling around. So, there is a ritual, involving water. If she is guilty, ultimately she will be unable to have children, but if she is innocent, then the water won’t affect her.
What is this about?
Well, aside from the practical need of helping put to rest jealous thoughts of a husband, the larger theme is the theme of water purifying and making clean: after the major sexual sin in Genesis 6 involving the sons of God who desire the daughters of men, the Lord sends the waters of the Flood. The same kind of thing is happening here.
Something Interesting from a Boring Passage
The opening chapters of Numbers don’t seem particularly interesting, since they are mainly lists of the various tribes.
But, allow me to point out three interesting details:
The tribes are arranged in camp with the tabernacle at the center. It’s like the Garden of Eden itself—God’s life is in the center.
The Levites are chosen by God to be the maintenance men of the tabernacle. Their job is to guard it and to break it down and carry it when the Israelites are on the move.
Aaron and his sons are the priests who actually do the sacrificial work in the tabernacle complex, and the Levites work for the Aaronic priesthood.
P.S. Look how the rabble that came out of Egypt has become a fruitful, well-ordered nation.
3 Sentence Overview of the Bible So Far
Today, we wrap up Leviticus and begin Numbers, and I thought I’d offer a brief recap of where we are. It’s hard, sometimes, to keep track of the bigger picture, so I hope the following helps:
At the end of Exodus, because of the people’s sin with the golden calf, Moses (their representative) is unable to enter the tabernacle and draw near to the presence of the Lord.
Leviticus shows that the people can live in God’s presence only through the sacrifice of a blameless representative.
Numbers begins with Moses back inside the tabernacle, thereby showing that instructions in Leviticus have worked.
“The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt….” [Numbers 1:1]
TOMORROW is All-Church Bible Study at Asbury, 6:30-8:00 PM. We’ll be talking about Numbers (which is a strange book) and the puzzling detail that Moses is barred from entering the promised land.
“Valuations of Persons”?
All-Church Bible Study is this Wednesday (03/04) at Asbury, 6:30-8:00 PM central.
There’s a strange paragraph in chapter 27. Let me quote it in full before commenting on it:
27:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, 3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8 And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford. [Leviticus 27:1-8]
What is this about?
Here’s what’s going on. This is for when people came and wanted to make a commitment to God and a financial gift to the sanctuary to go along with it, and this paragraph sets out a way of standardizing the gifts. Men had more earning power than women, and older people had more earning power than younger people, so it was a sliding scale. And, if you were poor and couldn’t make a financial gift, the priest would say “Okay, X amount counts. Good for you.”
So, it would be like saying, “I am making this commitment before God, and to show that I’m taking it seriously, I will make the standard financial gift that is expected from someone of my age and situation in life.”
When the Half-Israelite Was Killed
Today, we read the strange and off-putting account of a half-Egyptian, half-Israelite man who is executed outside the camp.
10 Now an Israelite woman's son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11 and the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 And they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them. [Exodus 24:10-12]
They are instructed to put the man to death, which seems harsh.
This is one of those times that context helps make sense of the passage.
Immediately afterwards, the Israelites are given some principles about law and order, told that punishment ought to fit the crime. So, that makes us think that there is something uniquely bad about what the man did, since his offense was met with the death penalty.
Then, in the following chapters, we will read about how the Israelites, if they obey the Lord, will be extraordinarily blessed, but that if they ignore his voice, the consequence will be exile from the land, which means death.
Putting it all together, here is what the strange account of the man who blasphemes the name is meant to teach:
The most important thing the Israelites had is their relationship to the Lord, which is life itself. If they misuse that relationship and twist it so that it becomes a curse, then death will be the result.
NOTE: Sorry about skipping yesterday’s commentary—I forgot to post.
Every Law a Lesson
One way to understand Leviticus is to consider that every law is meant to teach the Israelites something important.
So, when you read a law, ask, “What is the underlying lesson here?”
In some of the readings from yesterday there were lots of instructions about not mixing things—fibers, materials, animals, etc. Why? Well, if you read carefully, you learn that the things associated with the tabernacle—the materials, the fabrics, even the high priest’s clothing—were all made of mixed materials. So, by forbidding the mixing of things by ordinary Israelites, the Lord was teaching them the importance of the tabernacle space and that it was meant to be different from everyday life.
In today’s reading, there are lots of regulations about the priesthood. Here is the general idea:
The Lord is the source of beauty, light, and life;
Things that are imperfect or impure or injured are marked by death and decay and are signs of the result of sin;
So, things that are imperfect or impure or injured were not supposed to be part of priestly life.
Priests were meant to be set apart—“holy”—and the Lord gave these regulations to that end.
Different Things That Are all The Same
This section of Leviticus is a series of seemingly disparate commands and laws and comments.
But they all have one thing in common—they are about holy living.
Holiness is about being set apart for the Lord:
19:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” [Leviticus 19:1-2.]
So, the behaviors and practices that are listed subsequently are about:
Standing out from Egyptian culture (from which they were rescued);
Or not imitating Canaanite culture (to which they are going);
Or just behaving with the light and life of the Lord.
Warning: Adult Content
After the Day of Atonement, the Lord instructs the people on what it looks like to live in a holy way. Unsurprisingly, there is a fair amount of instruction about human sexual behavior.
Way back in Genesis 9, something strange happens between Noah and his son Ham:
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. [Genesis 9:20-23]
What does that mean? What happened there?
Well, as so often in the Bible, you have to read on (and on and on) to find out. And in Leviticus 18, we finally get some insight.
6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. [Leviticus 18:6-8]
It’s obvious as the passage continues that “uncover the nakedness of” or “seeing the nakedness of” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
So, when Genesis describes Ham as “seeing the nakedness of his father” it is telling us that Ham took advantage of his father’s drunkenness and, in an attempt to assert dominance and usurp his father’s place, had sexual relations with his mother. (When Absalom attempts to overthrow his father, King David, he has sexual relations with his father’s concubines out in the open so as to show his dominance over his father. A nasty, nasty episode—1 Samuel 16:20-22.) This explanation of the event with Ham also makes sense of Noah’s reaction, when he curses not Ham, but Ham’s son, Canaan:
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
This part of Leviticus is no one’s favorite passage of the Bible, but it is important, because it teaches us two things:
How we use our bodies matters to God;
And God cares enough to provide us clear boundaries that we transgress at our peril.
Satan Gets the Sewage
You may have heard of the major sewage spill into the Potomac River, just upstream from Washington, D.C.
Allow me to connect it to Leviticus….
One Day, Two Goats
There was one day of the year when the high priest would enter the holiest place (also known as the holy of holies) and make atonement for all the sins and moral pollution of the people over the previous year. It was called the Day of Atonement. (In modern Hebrew it’s called Yom Kippur.)
What’s interesting is that the Day of Atonement involved two goats, but only one was sacrificed:
7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering,10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. [Leviticus 16:7-10]
One goat is sacrificed as a purification or sin offering. It is a blameless representative whose blood covers over the sins of the people. (This is the kind of sacrifice we should be familiar with by now.)
But it’s what happened to the second goat that is fascinating.
The second goat is not sacrificed. On the contrary, it is sent away alive.
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. [16:20-22]
The first goat is a blameless representative, an innocent sacrifice.
The second goat is the one that bears the sins of the people, and rather than being sacrificed, it is sent out to wander in the wilderness and (eventually) die.
It’s like the second goat is carrying all the moral sewage of the people out into the desert.
Sending the Sewage Back to Satan
The goat is said to be sent to “Azazel.” This is a very mysterious Hebrew word that might mean something like “the powerful spiritual being.” Since Genesis 3 there has been an enemy lurking in God’s garden, trying to destroy it. That enemy is given various names throughout the Bible:
The Satan
The Devil
The Enemy
etc.
(We don’t have time in this post to talk about how that enemy came to exist.)
What’s amazing about the second goat on the Day of Atonement is that it is sent away from God’s presence into the wilderness, carrying the sins of the people. It is sent to “Azazel,” a demonic figure.
In other words, the sins of the people are sent right back to the enemy.
The moral sewage is sent right back to Satan!
How great is that?!
Today’s Old Testament reading from the One Year Bible:
Who Knew There Was Mold in the Bible?
Remember: the Israelites associated certain things with death, including skin diseases and mold.
So, to teach the people that his presence is life, the Lord gave the Israelites strict rules around both things. Hence today’s reading.
Neither skin diseases nor mold were considered sinful—rather they were just a form of being unfit to come into the Lord’s presence in the tabernacle. So, after having a skin condition or being in a place with mold, before you could draw near to the Lord there was a process you needed to undergo.
By the way, you know what part I loved about today’s reading? The part about how even the poor man who can’t afford a sacrifice has a way to the come to the Lord. I love that about our God—how he has a heart for the poor and needy.
21 “But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil; 22 also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. [14:21-22]
Eczema in Eden?
Why the obsession with skin conditions in Leviticus?
Remember, the tabernacle was meant to be like Eden—it was a place where God could share his eternal life with human creatures.
Key idea about Eden: In Eden, everything is in harmony, and everything works the way it was meant to work.
Because of human rebellion, however, life on earth is not in harmony. There is sin, sickness, and death.
This is why Leviticus cares about skin conditions—they are a sign that human life has been estranged from God.
Having a skin condition was not sinful, but it was a form of ritual uncleanness, or to put it another way—and this might be the best way to think about it—a skin condition was a sign of “unfitness” to come into the sacred space.
All of this is “torah”—Hebrew for “instruction.” It was meant to teach Israel about the life of God, the consequences of sin, and God’s commitment to bring sinful humans back into his presence.
Today, skin conditions don’t keep Christians from God because the blood of Jesus covers us and makes atonement, but nevertheless skin conditions are a reminder of the imperfections of life as we wait for the Second Coming.
P.S. No, I don’t think there was eczema in Eden.
Badgers & Blood
It’s important that we seek to understand Leviticus on its own terms, not our terms.
So, how should we think about this strange stuff about not eating certain foods and the impurity of blood associated with childbirth?
Key idea: the Israelites had certain ideas about the things that were death-like and the purity laws taught that to come into the presence of life, the Israelites needed to be sure not to have become “contaminated” by deathly things.
AND
“Impure” or “unclean” was not something morally evil. It had nothing to do with sin. It was like “contamination”—it just had to be cleaned off before you could approach God’s presence. A surgeon going into surgery scrubs in before he begins to operate. Think of impurity or uncleanliness in that category.
Food Stuff
Some of the forbidden foods were foods that they would have considered disgusting;
Some of the forbidden foods were foods that the surrounding cultures would perhaps have eaten, so the food laws kept Israel separated;
Some of the forbidden foods were animals that blurred the lines between categories. Consider a shellfish, for example—is it a fish or something else? As we will see with later things, things that blurred category lines were things in the Israelite mind that seemed to tend toward death, since they were examples of disorder, and disorder meant death.
Which brings us to blood and childbirth.
Blood and Childbirth
Children are a gift from God.
But to the Israelite mind, blood was meant for life, and bodily fluids were meant to remain inside the body. So, when bodily fluids leaked, it was an impurity—since it suggested death—and it meant that the person—in this particular case, a woman who had just given birth—was ritually impure and needed to work through purification rituals before coming back into the presence of God.
The Point of All of This
God is teaching the Israelites that sin and death cannot coexist in the presence of God. And, to their way of thinking, coming into contact with the various forbidden foods and bodily fluids (outside the body!) were ways of coming into contact with deathly things.
P.S. All of this sacrificial and purity system was fulfilled and made obsolete by the death and resurrection of Jesus. So, Christians can come to the Father through faith in the Son, and we then live in the life of the Spirit. Jesus was the true and ultimate sacrifice, and Christians no longer have to live under the sacrificial system of the Old Testament.
Aaron’s Sons Drop Dead
It takes seven days, but Aaron and his sons are set apart for the priesthood.
And then something amazing happens, when Aaron has offered the sacrifices and Moses and Aaron have gone into the tabernacle:
22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. [Leviticus 9:22-24]
IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS ALL GOING TO BE OKAY!
It’s like Eden is being recreated in the desert—the people have drawn near to the life of God, and everything is good. The sacrifices have served their purpose.
And then, just like in Eden, disaster strikes:
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. [Leviticus 10:1-2]
The problem continues:
The Lord brings people near so as to share his eternal life with them;
But the people rebel by doing what is right in their own eyes;
The consequence is exile from God’s presence, which means death.
So, what is God going to do?
Gotta read on, dear reader.
P.S. What the Lord says to Aaron gives us a clue to what’s going to happen next in Leviticus:
8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.” [Leviticus 10:8-11]
Aaron and his sons need to be sharp and sober so that they can teach the difference between right and wrong, etc. The following chapters will give examples of what that means.
Today’s Old Testament reading from the One Year Bible: Leviticus 9:7-10:20.
Bloody Ears, Toes, Thumbs
Exodus ends with the tabernacle being completed and the presence of the Lord filling it, but Moses is unable to enter.
Leviticus is about what it will take for sinful humanity to draw near to God’s life.
So, after discussions of the type of sacrifices needed, Leviticus turns in chapters 7-8 to the topic of the preparation of a priesthood for Israel, so there will be people who can administer the entire sacrificial system.
For these men to be fit for duty, they need to be spiritually cleansed and prepared.
Part of the ordination ceremony involves the sacrifice of a ram. Aaron (Moses’s brother and the first high priest of Israel) and his sons put their hands on the head of the animal, which is then slaughtered. Its blood is sprinkled on their garments and applied to their right earlobes, their right thumbs, and the big toes of their right feet. The whole ceremony is meant to take seven days!
Can you imagine how solemn it must have been for Aaron and his sons to put their hands on the sacrificial animals before they were killed and then to have the blood of the sacrifice placed on their earlobes and their thumbs and their toes?
The message is clear: they are being ordained into a role that carries a heavy responsibility, one with life and death consequences. The solemnity and weight of the ceremony must have been awe-inspiring.
Tomorrow in our readings, the first sacrifice will finally take place!
And then disaster will strike….
Keep on going, dear reader.
Today’s Old Testament reading from the One Year Bible: Leviticus 7:28-9:6.
The Priest Was Like An Ancient Butcher
What did the Israelites do with all the sacrifices and offerings they brought to the tabernacle?
The answer is: much of the time, they ate them!
In many ways, the priesthood in Israel functioned like a guild of butchers, since animals were brought to the tabernacle and then slaughtered and dressed and cut by the priests. What happened next depended on the type of offering that had been offered on the altar. (See yesterday’s post for more.)
The burnt offering (Leviticus 6:8-13) was meant to be completely consumed by fire so that there was nothing left;
The grain offering (Leviticus 6:14-18) was eaten by the priestly families, since they didn’t work outside the tabernacle and so had no other way of feeding themselves;
The sin offering (Leviticus 7:1-10) was meat, and it was meant to be eaten by the priests for the same reason;
The peace offering (Leviticus 7:11-18) was meant to be taken back home by the Israelite who brought it and eaten by his family right away.
Today’s reading in the One Year Bible: Leviticus 6:1-7:27.
Guide to Leviticus 1-5
Leviticus—The Big Idea
God’s desire is to make his eternal life and presence accessible to his human creatures. So, he comes right in the middle of the Israelite camp in the desert. The problem is that sinful humanity cannot exist in God’s presence—humans are polluted by death, and death cannot live in God’s life. Hence, Leviticus:
The point of the Book of Leviticus is to teach people what it takes to receive God’s eternal life.
Leviticus Is a Life Manual
Leviticus is like a manual on how to participate in God’s eternal life.
It’s meant to cover all of life, and so it’s very detailed:
“Have Problem X? Here’s Solution Y.”
The opening chapters of Leviticus describe five different types of offerings, each with a different purpose:
The Burnt Offering
The Grain Offering
The Peace Offering
The Sin Offering
The Guilt Offering
The Burnt Offering (Chapter 1)
The Burnt Offering is about making atonement for sin. A blameless animal (see yesterday’s post) is sacrificed on the altar and the entire thing is burnt up, becoming smoke. It’s could be translated as “The Going-Up Offering”, because the life of the sacrifice is transformed into smoke, which rises to the Lord.
The Logic of the Burnt Offering: the only way to truly show contrition before God for your wrongdoing is to completely surrender your life, even to the point of death. “Lord, I am without excuse.” But, in the burnt offering, the blameless animal is your representative and dies in your place, and the smoke rises up to the Lord, thereby bringing you near to The Lord. The animal stands in for you.
The Point of the Burnt Offering: it makes it possible for you to come close to the Lord and live in his life.
The Grain Offering (Chapter 2)
The Grain Offering is like a Thanksgiving offering. You bring some of your produce and offer it to the Lord, and the priestly families get to use what isn’t burned on the altar.
The Logic of the Grain Offering: everything we have comes from the Lord, so we offer back a portion of what he has given us.
The Point of the Grain Offering: it’s meant to remind you to be thankful and to enjoy God’s good gifts.
The Peace Offering (Chapter 3)
The Peace Offering is a sacrifice of part of the animal, but not all of it. The part that remains is then available to eat.
The Logic of the Peace Offering: God gives good gifts, and they are meant to be shared with others. So, you offer a portion of God’s gift back to the Lord, but then you get to keep the rest.
The Point of the Grain Offering: it encourages people to give thanks and then celebrate together!
The Sin Offering (chapters 4-5)
Can also be translated as “The Purification Offering”.
The Sin Offering purifies the very places in which people live. It is for the kind of things people do that lead to death, even if they are unintentional.
The Logic of the Sin Offering: the blood of the sacrifice is like a spiritual detergent, and it cleans the spiritual atmosphere so it’s not polluted by death.
The Point of the Sin Offering: my moral failing has polluted the world. My sin affects everything else. The Sin Offering is a way to clean up after what I’ve done, and restore things back to God’s intention.
The Guilt Offering (Chapter 5)
The Guilt Offering is about the sinner acknowledging his sin before God and the person he has wronged.
The Logic of the Guilt Offering: if I sin against another human being, I have both sinned against God as the author of life and against that human being image-bearer of God.
The Point of the Guilt Offering: it offers a way for me to restore my relationship with other people as well as the Lord, because it involves a sacrifice to the Lord and a restitution payment to the person I’ve wronged.
The Logic of Leviticus
I hope you are beginning to see the logic of Leviticus:
Human sin is serious, but God offers a way back for people who trust him.
The key to understanding Leviticus is to understand it on its own terms, not on ours. When we approach the book like that, we see that the entire thing is there to teach us what is required if we want to live in God’s eternal life.
SPOILER: Jesus is what is required for humans to have life.
NOTE: Yesterday, in my first post on Leviticus, I included the text of that day’s reading from the One Year Bible. I’m not going to do that any more. So, read your One Year Bible and then come here to check out what I have to offer.
Today’s Old Testament reading: Leviticus 4:1-5:19.
Leviticus Begins
Leviticus 1:1-3:17
1:1 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
3 “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, 7 and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
10 “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish, 11 and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 12 And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, 13 but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
14 “If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons. 15 And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. 16 He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.17 He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
2:1 “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it 2 and bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 3 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.
4 “When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. 5 And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil. 6 You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. 7 And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. 9 And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 10 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.
11 “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 12 As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
14 “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. 15 And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the Lord.
3:1 “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. 3 And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 Then Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
6 “If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord, 8 lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.9 Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the Lord its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 10 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 11 And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the Lord.
12“If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before theLord 13and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 14Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to theLord, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is theLord's. 17It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
Leviticus Begins Today
Today we begin Leviticus in our Year Through the Bible. (And all the people CHEERED.) We will conclude Leviticus and begin Numbers on Tuesday, March 3, and each day through then I’m going to be posting a brief reflection on that day’s reading to help us get the most out of this strange book. Each day’s post will be published at 3:30 AM central time, and for those of you on my email list, it will be emailed to you at 4:00 AM. (Sign up here.)
NOTE: I am not offering here a complete commentary on every verse! Rather, I am just trying to offer something that I hope brings understanding. If you find this helpful, please spread the word.
Here is why you should care about Leviticus: the entire point of the book is to teach people what it takes to receive God’s eternal life.
Exodus concludes with Moses unable to enter the tent of meeting:
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. [Exodus 40:34-35]
The reason Moses is unable to enter the tent is because of Israel’s sin with the golden calf. That incident (Ex. 31) was like Israel’s fall story. Sinful, rebellious humanity cannot draw near to God, cannot dwell in Eden, cannot participate in God’s eternal life. It’s the same pattern that is played out over and over throughout the Old Testament. At the end of Exodus, Moses is Israel’s representative, and so, once the tabernacle is complete and the presence of God comes in the midst of the camp, even Moses himself is unable to draw near.
But, just one book later, Numbers begins with Moses speaking with the Lord, but this time Moses does so from within the tent, near to the Lord:
The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt…. [Numbers 1:1]
What changed?
Leviticus!
Leviticus offers a way for sinful humans to draw near to God.
From the first chapter of the Bible, we have seen that God’s plan is to share his life with his human creatures. Leviticus is yet one more sign that even sin and death will not thwart God’s plan.
The entire book explains the various ways that people sin or participate in death, and for each and every instance of sin, the book lays out a way for people to be forgiven and reconciled back to God. Leviticus is about how to be made right with God so you can receive his eternal life.
Leviticus begins with instruction about a sacrifice: an Israelite is to put his hands on the head of a bull from his herd, and then that animal is to be sacrificed. The blameless animal represents the human, and its blood symbolically represents the complete surrender and offering up of one’s life before the Lord. What the Israelites learn in Leviticus is that sin kills and must be dealt with, but that the way back into God’s presence is complete surrender. You might say it’s the ultimate form of repentance—“Lord, I am a sinner and deserve death, and I completely admit that. I have no excuse.” This is what the sacrifice means. In Leviticus, the life of a blameless animal—its blood is its life—is offered in place of the sinful human, and through its innocent blood as it were, the sinful human is able to draw near to the Lord. The way to life is through death.
This is what Jesus means when he says to his disciples:
24 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” [Matthew 16:24-25]
Now, the animal sacrifice is just a symbol of the larger reality—the only way for sinful humanity to come back to God’s presence is through the sacrifice of a blameless life. So, what the Bible tells is that the Father eventually sends the Son to be a willing sacrifice to make atonement for humanity once and for all. Those who trust in the Son are joined to him, raised from the dead, and live in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
So, the gospel starts with Leviticus! You might not be interested in the particular regulations for this or that sacrifice. But you should be very interested in the larger lesson that Leviticus teaches: that the only way to live in the presence and life of God is if a blameless sacrifice surrenders his life in place of undeserving sinners.
Here’s the Good News—the sacrifice has been made, and TODAY you can, through faith in Jesus, live in God’s eternal life.
With that in mind, I mean, how could you NOT have a great day?!
Seven Wake-Ups and Counting
“Wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
From February 2 through February 17, I am covering the daily Wake-Up Call for Seedbed. Seedbed is a Christian publisher and ministry “sowing for the awakening”. Every morning they do a brief morning devotional that is emailed out as well as distributed via podcast and YouTube. J.D. Walt, the Seedbed CEO, asked me to fill in for him on the Wake-Up Call leading into Lent, and I’ve done seven Wake-Up Calls so far.
Since it’s the Year Through the Bible at Asbury, I decided to offer a brief reflection and explanation on our daily reading from the One Year Bible for each of the Wake-Up Calls I’m responsible for.
We are in the part of Exodus that, shall we say, is not always the most accessible or interesting, so I thought that you folks might like to see what I’ve done over the last seven days. So, below, I’ve posted each video as well as the link to each day’s written commentary. (The videos also include me yapping a bit each day on some other stuff as well as even singing a hymn at the end of each Wake-Up Call!)
What If They Advertised Manna at the Super Bowl?
Monday, February 2. Exodus 16:13-21. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
What’s Freedom For?
Tuesday, February 3. Exodus 19:1–6. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
How To Be a Spiritual Umbrella
Wednesday, February 4. Exodus 20:4-6. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
Weird Old Testament Laws
Thursday, February 5. Exodus 22:18-24. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
How to Make a Portable Eden
Friday, February 6. Exodus 25:31-36. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
The Boy Scouts Had it Right
Saturday, February 7. Exodus 27:20–21. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
Do This In Church Today
Sunday, February 8. Exodus 28:29. Read the entry here, or watch the video here.
I hope you folks find some of this stuff helpful or interesting. I’ll post future episodes here as well.
I know I said I’d be posting a Bible entry each here Thursday, but I just haven’t been able to pull that off so far! We’ll see what the future holds.
Keep reading.
What’s With The Incredible Ages in Genesis 5?
Today’s topic: How are we supposed to understand the frankly incredible ages that Genesis 5 gives of the antediluvian patriarchs? Was Adam really 930 years old when he died?!
What does the Bible tell us about these ages?
Also, who was too lazy to look up antediluvian?
(ante = before + diluvian deluge, flood—it means “before the flood”. You’re welcome.)
Seen Our New Podcast?
We are one week into our Year Through the Bible at Asbury. (Or, as the cool kids say, YTTB.) Every Thursday in this space, I’ll post some thoughts on what we have been reading. (If you are on my email list, the post will be emailed to you at 4:00 AM central time that morning. Subscribe here.)
Our brand new Year Through the Bible podcast released yesterday. Episode 01 was about the most frequently-asked question we received: How should we think about Genesis 1? Did God create the universe in a period of six literal twenty-four hour days? Check it out here.
(Read below the image for today’s post—thoughts on the amazing ages recorded in Genesis 5.)
Genesis 5:1-32
5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died….
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
What ARe We Supposed to Believe About the Ages in Genesis 5?
Numbers are important in the Bible. The problem is that we have lost the ability to interpret the numbers in the way that the ancient Israelites would have understood them. So, when we read in Genesis chapter 5 that Adam lived to be 930 and his son Seth 912, we know that these numbers are important, but we don’t know why they are important.
Some possible ways to interpret the amazing ages in Genesis 5:
The ages report literal years, identical to our years. That is, Adam was 930 years old when he died, and Adam’s years were made up of 365 days, just like ours.
The years in Genesis 5 are different from our years. Adam’s 930 years mean something different than our years—they are units of time that we don’t understand.
The years in Genesis 5 are symbolic. The problem is, we don’t have the key to interpreting the symbols!
Which is it?
Why not just accept the numbers at face value and be done with it? Why do the numbers have to "mean something”?
Seeing the years listed in Genesis chapter 5 as completely identical to modern years might be the correct interpretation, but I’m not convinced, and that’s because of what we read further on in the Bible itself.
Use the Bible to Interpret the Bible
The most important way to interpret the Bible is through using the Bible itself. So, are there other passages that might shed light on the ages of Genesis 5? Yes.
First, we should notice that after the Flood, no one lives anywhere close to as long as beforehand. It is significant that Abraham, who lives after the Flood and is the greatest of all the Patriarchs, is recorded as living only to 175 (Genesis 25:7). Now, 175 is an incredible age, but it is hundreds and hundreds of years shorter than the ages in Genesis 5.
Why does the Bible go out of its way to tell us Abraham’s specific age? I think one reason might be because we are supposed to compare Abraham with the antediluvian patriarchs and see just how different their lives were before the Flood. In Genesis, the Flood permanently changes things, and one of the ways we can see that is through the great ages of the people who live before the Flood. So, the ages of the men before the Flood highlight the change that the Flood has brought to human life.
Second, we read in Psalm 90 that the ancient Israelites had lifespans similar to our own—70-80 years:
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
So, for the readers of the Bible in ancient Israel—who lifespans were in the same ballpark as modern Americans—the ages of the antediluvian patriarchs would have also seemed extremely strange.
This fact suggests to me that the great ages recorded in Genesis 5 are meant to get our attention and strike us as strange. They are meant to stand out.
One more thing: all the ages and details given in Genesis 5 allow us to see that Adam is still alive when the ninth generation is born!
Adam lives 0-930.
Lamech, the ninth descendant, is born in Year 874.
This means that Adam saw the increasing violence and depravity that humans adopted as a result of his disobedience in the garden of Eden, all the way down to the ninth generation.
I find this a striking detail. Without the ages given to us in Genesis 5, we would not be able to know this.
What does the Bible itself teach us about the ages in Genesis 5?
“Are we supposed to see the years in Genesis 5 as identical to our concept of years?”
That’s the question folks ask, but it’s not the right question and there is no real way to answer that question.
The better question is, What does the Bible itself teach us about the ages in Genesis 5?
When we ask that question, we see that even in the Bible, these ages are unusual and so we should pay close attention to what we read in Genesis 5—these great ages are meant to grab our attention and teach us something important.
P.S. I kicked off YTTB this past Sunday at Asbury: You Are Going to Die (And Other Good News). Check it out here.
Day 1
Today is Day 1 of our Year Through the Bible. (YTTB, for those in the know.)
Today’s readings:
Genesis 1-2
Matthew 1:1-2:12
Psalm 1
Proverbs 1:1-6
At Asbury, we are following the One Year Bible plan. (Get your One Year Bible here.) All you need to know is on the website we created for YTTB:
I’ll Be Posting Here Each Thursday
For those of you who have followed me for a while, you are used to me posting every weekday when we are working through a reading plan. With the scope of the YTTB plan, however, daily posting is just not realistic. First, I just can’t pull off that kind of output, 365 days in a row. Second, there is too much to cover—each day there is an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a psalm, and a proverb.
So, every Thursday at 3:30 AM central I’ll post here some thoughts on that week’s readings; for those of you who have subscribed to my Bible list, you’ll get that post delivered via email every Thursday at 4:00 AM.
(By the way, I have two email lists for subscribers: a general Andrew Forrest blog list, and the Bible list. I posted something on the general section yesterday entitled NDO 2026, which was about my plans for 2026. You can subscribe to either list here.)
Weekly Podcast Released Every Tuesday
We will be recording a weekly video podcast every week that will hit on some of the questions raised by that week’s readings. The first episode of this new podcast will be released on Tuesday, January 6. I’ll post that first episode here and it will be sent to all subscribers, too.
Submit Your bible questions
At the Year Through the Bible website, there is a place to submit a Bible question. We’ll do our best to answer as many questions as possible, and the plan is to look at the most relevant or interesting or frequently-asked questions each week in the podcast.
How to Get the One Year Bible in An App
Having the One Year Bible in an app on your phone can be a great supplemental tool. Among other things, it is another way to keep track of your progress.
Also, the app comes with audio! So, it’s possible to listen to that day’s reading while on the go.
At Asbury, we are using the Life Bible app for YTTB. To download the app and to see a video that describes how to set it up, go to www.yearthroughthebible.com. (The desktop version of the app is at www.lifebible.com.) Once set up, the app looks like this:
Why We Are Not Recommending the YouVersion Bible App
If you are reading this on January 1, 2026, then by all means feel free to use the YouVersion Bible app. (There is a MAJOR problem with the YouVersion app, however—see more, below.) Search for “One Year Bible” in Plans. It will look like this:
But, at Asbury we are not recommending the YouVersion app for YTTB. This is because there is no way to backdate a yearlong reading plan on the YouVersion app, which means that anyone who wants to join us later in 2026 will have no way to stay current with Asbury’s reading plan if he or she is relying on the app. The Life Bible app, in contrast, allows users at any time to configure the start date to “January 1, 2026” so as to stay current with the rest of the church. If you personally want to start on January 1 with the YouVersion app and include friends who also start with you on that date, that’s great, but after that date the YouVersion app will not be as useful to us at Asbury for our YTTB. Hence: our recommendation of the Life Bible app.
All-church bible Study Schedule
I am teaching three All-Church Bible Studies this spring, each from 6:30-8:00 PM. (All the studies will be live-streamed.)
Wednesday, January 14
Wednesday, March 4
Wednesday, May 6
In addition to these studies, I will of course be preaching weekly through the Bible.
The Way to Understand the Bible Is to Read the bible
The Bible is difficult and there will be many places over the course of the year where we will encounter something confusing or opaque or unsettling. I will do my best to provide guidance so you can get the most out of our YTTB, through:
Weekly sermons;
Tuesday podcasts;
Thursday Bible posts;
Answering the Bible questions folks submit;
Teaching the All-Church Bible studies;
And all the other things we are going to be doing in 2026.
BUT
The best way to understand the Bible is to keep reading the Bible. You just have to keep going. What you will find is that a question you have in January will either be answered in August, or, what may seem vitally important to you in February will end up being replaced by a different burning question in November. That’s just how the Bible works.
So, don’t overthink it. Just read every day, one day at a time.
Let’s GO.