Leviticus chapter 10-12

God’s message to me: The Lord is Holy and what is brought to Him should be holy.

Promises: God is holy and wishes His people to be holy. He doesn’t create these laws to impede our lives but to set us apart as holy and chosen by Him.

Commands: God must be seen as Holy by those who come before Him. They must not give just anything to the Lord but only that which is Holy, and proper and called for.

This can easily be applied to worship. Many people have fallen into the music trap. They find many songs that move them and some concentrate their efforts on the music service and “worship” then forget the rest. Some have even moved to a service of only worship music rather than teaching the word and sharing the gospel and leaving a time for God to call his harvest.

Worship is proper in it’s place. Preaching is proper in it’s place. Prayer is proper in it’s place. To everything there is a time and place but to bring the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place with God is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong... For this reason the sons of Aaron were killed as an example.

Timeless principles: Offering God the things he has asked for is good. Bringing Him what is profane is not. Bring my tithes to church, Singing His praises in their time, even enjoying a fellowship meal afterwards are proper and good and pleasing to God. Donating my heavy metal collection to the church does nothing to honor God. Singing uplifting and feel good music from the Beatles may send a message of loving your fellow man but, by glorifying humanism and denigrating Theism I insult God. Offering up a pig roast with an open bar and George Michael Music on the stereo might be a good time and get folks together for some fun but it is hardly the fellowship of the saints that God had in mind.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: Remember Who it is I am worshiping and make my worship appropriate to Him.

more to learn for in-depth study: It was also commanded that the priests not drink anything intoxicating before entering the temple. The sons of Aaron made a bad judgment call. By always being sober in the temple the priests were more able to distinguish between what was right and what was not.

Kosher Laws: There was plenty to eat under the kosher laws but plenty was off the menu as well. All forms of shellfish were out as were skin fish. No catfish, Lobster or clams for God’s chosen. Looked at from a serious standpoint, these are bottom feeding, carrion animals. Many would be considered the insects of the sea. the same could be said of the land animals on the list. Some were pleasant little herbivores, like the Hare(rabbit), but a rabbit is still a rodent. Strangely, Locusts and Grasshoppers were on the menu while all other flying insects were off it. I could go in depth but, like the temple study, it takes more space than I should use and has been better done by others.

The basic concept is one of sanitation. These laws kept the Israelites away from foods that were higher risk for disease and ordered their kitchen sanitation to reduce the chance of illness. The Kosher laws were not meant to impede the Israelites, in fact eating kosher can open a wide variety of new foods to you. They were meant to glorify God by keeping his chosen people healthy.

Ritually unclean. Chapter 12 is of the ritually unclean. I won’t even attempt to explain why as this Ritual standard no longer applies. As I mentioned yesterday, God told Peter what He made clean was clean and the Grace overruled ritual. It’s also important to note the circumcision was held until the 8th day after birth. Modern science shows us that this is the time period necessary for the babies body to improve it’s immunities and healing processes. It is also the optimum time for clotting as the clotting agents in the blood are not well developed before 8 days. This makes 8 days the optimum time for the circumcision.

One more thing: I usually make a point of not naming names no matter how much I don’t like a person or their policies. I’ll make an exception when it comes to someone attacking religion and calling for legal action to interfere with the practice of religion.

There is a movement out there, led by people like Dr Dean Adell, to get rid of circumcision. I have two things to say. Thousands of years of experience trumps their scientific theories. That experience shows lower rates for disease and complications and that ill effects don’t actually exist. Second, these people need to reexamine the first amendment before jumping to the law to try and ban a religious practice that is over 4000 years old and crosses multiple faiths and cultures. I won’t say the procedure isn’t painful but it’s less a problem then many other “elective” surgeries and with far less concern of complication. Christians, Jews, Muslims and others who practice circumcision have just as many rights as those who worship at the alter of “science”.

Tomorrow: Leviticus chapter 13-14

Leviticus chapter 7-9

God’s message to me: Giving to the Lord is not just an obligation but can also be a celebration.

Promises: God will reveal himself and show us His Great pleasure when we do all He commands.

Commands: Never do something halfway for God. If your doing it for His service be careful to complete every detail. In the New Testament we are told we should always work as if we were working for God. This work ethic, if applied, results in a thoroughness and dedication to our jobs that not only pleases God but brings Him glory by letting Him shine through us. People should see Christians as a cut above the rest and willing to go the extra mile. They should prefer Christians employees because Christians do a better job.

WARNING: I can say from personal experience this leads to being a workaholic. Work should never outrank your service to God and obedience to Him. You still need church. You still need your day of rest.
Working as to God never means ignoring His command.

Timeless principles: The price of sin is quite high.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: Tithing is our duty. Some give offerings out of a sense of obligation. Giving out of our abundance and in celebration is pleasing to the Lord as well.

more to learn for in-depth study: “Unclean” is a biblical concept that ranges from simple laws to protect against disease to the need to avoid sin by avoiding those who, unrepentantly wallow in it. The main definition was applied to things which were not Kosher and things which were ritually unclean. Kosher laws were primarily to protect against illness. They made a great deal of sense and still do. By the time God presented the Apostle Peter with non-Kosher foods and told him it was alright to eat them, the practices of farming, food preparation and food preservation had become much more modernized. The Romans invented canning and made great strides in anti-microbial preparations. Ritually unclean things are a matter of Israel’s law. It is wise to take caution with these things but not necessary to avoid them. Some are unavoidable anyway. Someone has to tend to the dead, for example. Someone has to clean up after the livestock too. None of us would think it wise to do either without taking precautions against disease.

Fun Facts: The animal hides(for leather goods)belonged to the priest who offered the sacrifice. The only time leaven was offered with the sacrifices was in a thanksgiving sacrifice which was a celebration. When part of an offering was to be eaten it had to be finished the day of the offering. Leftovers were to be burned up. The one exception was if the sacrifice was voluntary(not part of some defined offering) or part of a vow. In that case it could be eaten on the next day as well but nothing remained for 3 days or it was burned.

Tomorrows assignment: Leviticus chapter 10-12