For 51 years I have known, of course, because I am so smart of course, that the high priest would go in once a year to the holy of holies.   … into the [Holy of Holies] only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.  Hebrews 9.7   Cool.   Except…   I am not so smart as I thought. Today I read he actually would go in twice yearly.   And [Aaron] shall take a censer full o

My son Jason commented on yesterday’s musings, suggesting that Bible Project’s video on the book is good. I watched it, it ain’t good. It is great.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-FekWUZzE   Those Bible Project guys are amazing... not only do they draw nice pictures, they have the uncanny ability to say a whole lot in a few words. Unlike Marcos.                                              I am awed by something they brought out in the video.   “At the end of the book of

In my mind’s eye I can see Moses dabbing a bit of blood on Aaron’s right ear, then his right thumb, then his right big toe, just as God told him to do (Lev 8.23). Then he followed (Lev 8.24) with Aaron’s four boys—right right right, right right right, etc.   I am not sure why it so grabs my attention. Maybe because it is a welcome change from pouring blood at the foot of the altar, or sprinkling it here or there seven times.   I see it as rather picturesque, quite simple, ext

One of the things that complicates the Levitical sacrifices for my simple mind, is that different versions give them different names, all while seemingly staying faithful to the original languages. (It’s for reasons like this I prefer to stick to the right-to-the-point MSV.) One sacrifice (minḥâ) is sometimes called the meal offering, yet it is with a different one (šĕlāmîm) that the sacrificer is invited to sit down and “have a meal” with his family. That same one (minḥâ) is

In 8.1 God gives Moses a list of things to get together for some consecrating. One bull, two rams, some unleavened bread, oil and some fancy clothes and accessories.   After the crowd gathered at the door of the tabernacle, Aaron and his four boys got dressed in their brand-new outfits. This included tunics, sashes, robes, a turban for dad, hats for the boys, an ephod, a breastplate,   and good ole Urim and Thummim.   My ESV has those capitalized even though we aren’t extreme

I hope I am not boring you with these months that I have been soley in the first seven chapters of Leviticus.   Chapters 1-5 define and gives instructions for the five major types of offerings (ălâ)   Burnt Offering (minḥâ)  Grain/Meal Offering (šĕlāmîm)  Peace/Fellowship Offering (ḥṭʾh)  Sin Offering ( ʾăšāmô )  Trespass/Guilt Offering   Then, six and seven give us “laws” about each of them, which, essentially, are more details as to how they are to happen.   Now I turn to c

This just seems to sneak up on us: “the salt of the covenant.”   Lev 2.13 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.      I went to Trader Joe’s to look for some of this salt of the covenant. They have sea salt, and ancient sea salt. They have Himalayan pink salt. (I figure those mountains have a pink tinge to them).   There’s

God seems to have a thing for honey. He took the children of Israel into a land flowing with milk and honey. He mentions honey quite a bit in His book.   Samson ate honey from the carcass of a lion. Jonathan got strengthened with a couple of ounces of honey. John ate it, perhaps with his grasshoppers, to give them some sweetness. (Can you blame him!)     On the other hand, God is very specific about honey never being included in anything burnt on His altar. …. for you shall

I stand corrected. Crop.   On Tuesday of this week I mused, “the burnt offering of birds necessitates chopping off the ‘crop’ (head feathers according to me).” Well, I was wrong.   Growing up in Massachusetts, I often heard, “he’s got quite a crop of hair.” So, I transferred that to my questionable Bible knowledge and assumed that the crop of the turtledoves and pigeons that were sometimes killed as Levitical sacrifices, was the feathers on their head.   Wrong wrong wrong.  

I wonder how Bezalel and Aholiab—the two guys who made the bronze altar—reacted when Moses told them what God had said:   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 Lev 1.5   I wonder if they, like us, thought God ought to do things their way!

God got out his compass when He explained the sacrifices to Moses. A burnt offering of sheep or goats is to be slain on the north side of the altar.   …he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD Lev 1.11     The burnt offering of birds necessitates chopping off the “crop” (head feathers according to me), and casting it on the east side of the altar.   He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, Lev 1.16     I

Thinking back on Leviticus 1.1… The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying…   That “saying” seems to go on for eight chapters, dealing with five mayor types of offerings, and 19 sub-variations.   Certainly, Moses had his phone recording it, in order to be able to write everything down afterwards.   Nope.   It was the Spirit of God who revealed, inspired, and/or reminded Moses, Isaiah, Luke, Paul—and about 36 others—as they took quill in hand.   An

Things got hot the day that God consecrated Aarón and his sons as priests. This, from the final verse of Leviticus chapter nine.   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.  Lev 9.24   Hmmm, I wonder if Aaron’s son Nadab and Abihu were paying attention. I would guess not, because the next two verses say:   Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,

Aaron and his sons got consecrated, it was quite the shindig.   Moises gave the three of them a bath (??) And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.  Leviticus 8.6   I dunno. In Japan I have been in a 銭湯 more than once. That’s a communal bath house. I thought it would freak me out, but I actually liked it. I even went back a second time. But I got to wash myself !   In verse 5, Moses wants everyone to know he is not questioning his gender, he did what he

One way we are not at all Levitical in our day and age has to do with guilt. We do not want anyone to be burdened with guilt about what happened, about what they did. It’s never their fault. “God is love.” ”And He has a plan.” Whereas, in Leviticus God cuts right to the chase:   Lev 4.13 the whole congregation…[is] guilty   Lev 4:22  When a ruler hath sinned…[he] is guilty   Lev 4:27  the common people…[are] guilty   Lev 5:2  If a soul touch any unclean thing…he also shall be

Yesterday, I noted that for certain sacrifices, the animal’s blood needed to be taken into the tabernacle and applied to the altar of incense.   I failed to mention, however, that the priest was to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it there in front of the curtain that separated the holy place from the holy of holies.   He was to sprinkle it 7 times.   The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of th

Since I never made it to Moses’ tabernacle, I can get tripped up when Leviticus tells me about the various offerings one could do upon the altars. And it is that “s” on the altar that I wrote in the last sentence that trips me up. There are two altars that come into play.   There is one in the front yard— OK, Moses calls it the courtyard — right in front of the entrance. And another inside, in the holy place.   The former is overlaid with bronze—so that you could do a rip-roa

Atonement. I do like the word. To me it shouts completeness . Starting anew. Clean as a whistle.   The word pops up over 80 times in the Old Testament, more than half of them here in Leviticus. But back then, they were having to work atonement over and over and over again. So, it was not as complete as it sounds…   (until we get to Jesus.)     But here is what I am trying to figure out today. For atonement, usually someone would put his hand on the head of the animal to be sa

Exodus told us a lot about how to construct the tabernacle. Leviticus tells us about keeping it—and us—clean and holy.   It is a book about holiness.     Certainly, the variety of sacrifices lead us to Christ, the atonement, forgiveness, life eternal He gives us.   He makes us holy. He wants us holy.   Lev 11.44 For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.   Lev 19.2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to t

Some of the differences amongst the three types of peace offerings are brought out in Lev 7.11-21. A peace offering can be of thanksgiving, or it can be a vow offering, or a freewill offering.   It can include unleavened bread, leavened bread, or unleavened wafers.   One kind has to be eaten by the next day, another gives the family two days to eat it.   After that, the leftovers cannot be put into the frig, they need to get burned up.   Something to think about as Thanksgivi