Read Leviticus
22-23 & Mark
1:1-22
To discover:
As you read consider what the Lord is wanting Israel
to remember by her festivals.
To ponder:
Respect by the priests for the offerings and cleanliness
laws is critical. Disrespecting the former “profanes” God’s name by suggesting
he is unholy, presumably by suggesting he doesn’t need atonement to draw near
to the people. Ignoring the latter means the priest will be “cut off” from
God’s presence, dying not because of something innate within the idea of being
clean or unclean, but because of the sinful attitude of treating God’s
requirements “with contempt” (22v9).
As for the requirements: If a
priest is made unclean he cannot eat the part of the offerings that are his
until made clean. And none outside his household should ever eat of it. If
someone does by accident, they must make restitution. Moreover, God instructs all
Israel that
only sacrifices without defect should be offered, with the exception of 22v23
and according to the instructions of 22v28-33.
By this means God’s name is not
profaned, but he is acknowledged as holy and the one who redeemed Israel
to be his holy people. In other words, the whole point to the regulations we’ve
been studying is to bring home God’s utter perfection, purity, orderliness and
otherness, and so the great privilege and wonder that he would dwell amongst Israel,
and the need for Israel
herself to therefore be holy. Interestingly, the very elaborate nature of the
sacrificial system would therefore affirm how utterly important obedience to
God’s law in totality is. For us too, it should bring home these same things,
but also the greatness of Christ’s achievement in purifying us. Indeed, every
Christian is a member of God’s royal priesthood, yet none are excluded from his
presence by sin, being made unclean, or by disability.
Chapter 23 relates the feasts at
which Israel
were to assemble (23v2). We are not commanded to keep festivals (Rom 15v5-6),
but these have their parallels. First is the weekly Sabbath (remembering
God as creator and redeemer). In part, our assembling on Sundays reflects this.
Second is the key feast of Passover, followed immediately by the seven
days of the feast of Unleavened Bread (remembering the Exodus). Good
Friday falls on the Passover, followed by the seven days of what Christians
call Easter Week. Third is the feast of Firstfruits included within the
previous feast, and marking the beginning of harvest (offering God the
firstfuits in acknowledgement of his provision). Paul speaks of Christ’s
resurrection as the firstfruits of the great spiritual harvest, which we
remember on Easter Day. Fourth, is the feast of Weeks or Pentecost, joyfully
marking the end of the grain harvest seven weeks later (acknowledging God’s
provision), with a reminder that the poor are to be left some of what is
gathered. Christians celebrate Pentecost as a reminder of the spiritual harvest
God is gathering. Fifth is the feast of Trumpets, marking the
ingathering of grapes and olives at the end of harvest time. This was an autumn
festival, held with the following two around the time Christians celebrate
harvest. Sixth is the day of atonement ten days later, reminding the
people that their enjoyment of the land seen in the harvest is linked to their
sin being dealt with before God. The people were to “deny themselves,”
presumably by abstaining from things. And those who didn’t were to be “cut off,”
ie. destroyed by God (23v29-30 - confirming our previous understanding of this
phrase). Seventh is the feast of Tabernacles or Booths, five days later,
in which the people were to celebrate God’s provision for seven days, whilst making
and living in booths to remind them of their reliance on God in the wilderness.
Praying it home:
Thank God for his great acts of redemption and provision in
Christ the OT feasts look forward to. Pray that we would remember these things not
just at key times, but continually.
Thinking further:
None today.
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