120329-Leviticus 21-22-the priesthood of the holy nation

Thursday SOAP: Some of the requirements for a priest seem a little excessive. Does this chapter imply that all of these things are "wrong" for everyone? Marrying a widow? Helping to bury a parent? Having a physical defect? No - a priest was supposed to be distinctive, because of Who he represented. (Heb. 4:14) What does that say about our role as Christians? (1 Peter 2:9) How are we unconsciously offending the Lord by not being cognizant of Who we represent?

S: They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy. (Leviticus 21:6).

O: The priests were to be set apart, distinctive, from Israel. In Leviticus 21-22, we have a long list of restrictions concerning the priests and the food reserved for priests.

A: This reminds me of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," which our Bible study group is now reading. See Christian's answer to Charity regarding why he could not convince his family to go on his journey with him: "I was very wary of giving them occasion, by any unseemly action, to make them averse to going on pilgrimage. Yea, for this very thing they would tell me I was too precise, and that I denied myself of things, for their sakes, in which they saw no evil."

These ideas seem almost as old-fashioned as the language today. We celebrate the freedom we have to resemble the world today, to imbibe of their entertainments and distractions. "Judge not" is the watchword of the day. It's true that this is a pendulum swing back in the other direction from my childhood, when secondary things in which we do have liberty were elevated almost to the status of primary things. But the swing has gone so far that the "peculiar people" of today aren't peculiar at all.

P: Lord, I don't want to be a judge of your servants - that is your right and not mine. But I also don't want to be unholy or profane. Help me see the things in my life that offend you, and correct them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We have all contracted the virus....

Last week and this weekend, I spent precious development time trying to rid myself of unwanted software on my coumputer called " Virtumonde ." Believe it or not, I'm pretty new to viruses and that kind of thing, coming from a background of developing on the Macintosh platform and using the Windows platforms to deliver product on. Well, this was a nasty wake up call to what Windows users have to deal with all the time. Virtumonde is called "Adware" and it's something that has sneaked on to your computer either by being installed along with some kind of trial software, or getting past your computer's defenses on the network. Its job is to watch what you do at all times with your computer, then occasionally pop up advertisements. In my case, most of the time, these advertisements were for anti-virus software. But they kept popping up an installation window for the software and beginning the installation even when I clicked, "no" for "do you w...
Read more

2023—Week21: Ezra01-Nehemiah11; John19-Acts04

Ezra-Nehemiah 11 : In the Jewish Canon, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book, and, although the division in ours makes sense, it’s clear that they cover the same basic period. They form one answer to the question at the end of 2 Chronicles’ hanging question, “Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 36:23, ISV) Yet despite their trust, the people are greatly weakened until the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah (and Haggai and Zechariah, Ezra 5:1) encourage them. Ezra’s trust is clearly represented in 8:22, where he is ashamed to request a protective guard for the fortune in treasures he carries, instead trusting in the hand of God for protection. Ezra’s prayer in Ezra 9, Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 1:5-11, and the people’s covenant prayer in 9:5-37 are the outcome. Faith precedes confession, because we don’t fully understand how badly we fall short until it’s revealed to us. Even then, we ne...
Read more

120613 - Luke 12 - The Devoted Servant

Image
Wednesday SOAP: A faithful servant isn't just (as Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to say) someone who would "vote for" Jesus, but someone who knows His master's will and is attentive - and entirely devoted - to His interests. A well-trained servant knows His master so well that he may be guided without a word - only a simple look, (Psalm 32:8), in contrast to willful animals who must be controlled by leashes, bits and bridles. (Ps. 32:9) S: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. (Luke 12:37) O: Here's a promise that really sounds like too much. Jesus sounds like He is describing John 13:3-5 - but He is describing a future celebration for those followers who have been "awake." Christ was free to make any promise He wanted - or make no promise at all - so rather than adopting Peter's false humility that wo...
Read more