Bible Brad

Leviticus

41 min read

Chapter Overview

  • Chapters 1-9 are about how to make certain sacrifices for certain things that may happen in daily life

    1. Laws of the burnt offerings

    2. Laws for grain offerings

    3. Laws for peace offerings

    4. Laws for sin offerings

    5. Specific examples of things that require sin offerings:

      • If someone witnesses a sin and does nothing, bears iniquity (wickedness)
      • If anyone touches something unclean (pigs, vultures, roaches, dead bodies), and they do not realize that they are unclean, they are only unclean once they realize what they’ve done
      • A careless oath, regardless of what it is, is sinful once the swearer realizes what has been done
        • This goes into what to do if your rich or poor; both are covered (lamb OR two turtledoves OR an “ephah” (about 8.3 lbs) of fine flour

      Laws for Guild offerings

    6. Specific examples of things that require guilt offerings:

      • The deciet, oppression, or robbery (including something found and then lied about) of a neighbor. In addition to the guilt offering, that which was taken is to be restored, plus 20%

      The Priests and the Offerings

      • Outlines requirements for the preistly duties
        • Burnt offerings should stay on the fire all night. In the morning, the priest should put on clean garments to gather the ashes and place them by the altar of God. Then they should change into normal clothing to carry the ashes to a clean place, outside of the camp. For us, our sins are delivered by The clean Man (Jesus) unto the presence of God and removed, far away, from us
        • The fires of the altar should go day/night
        • Provisions for feeding the priests and designating that which cannot be eaten (sin offerings may not be eaten, they must be burned up, wholly)

    7. Specifics of how to make a guilt offering

      Provisions for the preists

      Specifics of the Peace offering


      Specifications around eating animal fat and blood

      Summary of all the offerings: burnt, grain, sin, guilt, ordination/dedication, peace

    8. Ordination of the first Aaronic priests

      • Note the symbology of placing the hands on the head of the sin offering as they slaughter it
      • Al of the blood - life is in the blood [Lev 17:11] - is poured out
      • Self-quarentine for 7 days to fully be “ordained” (consecrated = dedicated or a dedecatory sacrifice)
        • Similar root words? You may not leave until the seven days of your consecration (מִלֻּאֵיכֶ֑ם Mil-loo-ie-chem; root: millu = installation) are fulfilled (מְלֹ֔את Miluchat; root: ma-lay = to be full)

    9. Continuation of chapter 8, now after the ordination time period:

    • Sin offering for self
    • Peace offering for the congregation
    • Grain offering on top of normal, daily burnt offering
    • Afterward, God accepts the offerings:
      • Aaron and Moses went into the Tent of Meeting
      • When they came out “the glory of the LORD appeard to all the people. Then fire went out from the presence of the lord [tent] and consumed the offerings”

  • Chapter 10 is about approaching God correctly as a preist. He holds these men to a higher standard and will not tolerate pride or carelessness 10. Aaron’s sons present “strange fire” to the LORD and are burnt alive. Moses has Aaron’s uncle bury the bodies and tells them not to leave to grieve lest God kill them also. Rather let the people grieve and focus on their duties

    • Commandment to the Aaronic line not to drink alcohol
    • Provisions for prests given to Aaron’s line
    • Moses gets upset and then put in place by Aaron (yay! not a cult)


      There is a right and a wrong way to approach God. While God always wants his lost children to come home, those that are called into his service (e.g. pastors) are held to a certain standard. When those standards are not met, there are consequences. For example, Aaron's sons approached God a prideful way. Having just seen fire flow from the temple, it's easy to assume that they may have done what they did to show off how holy they are. God called them out in a very real way. Instantly showing the people that, not only were they not as holy as they claimed to be, but they had offended God in how they acted - deliberately going around his commandments to what would eventually become the role of High Preist.

  • Chapter 11 covers the food laws (Kosher) 11. Clean and Unclean animals

    • Abominations: rock badger, rabbit, pig, fish without fins and scales, vultures, owls, crows, hawks, storks, herons, eagles, ossifrages, osprays, bats, bugs with wings but without jointed legs (bees, beetles), anything found dead, rats, lizards, snakes
    • If an unclean animal dies on something, it’s unclean until evening and must be either cleaned or destroyed
    • Anyone touching a clean or unclean animal as it dies, carries the carcass, or eats it raw, is unclean until evening and must bathe

  • Chapter 12 discusses purification after a birth 12. Purification of a woman after childbirth

    • Male: 7 days, then circumsise him, then 33 more days that she cannot touch anything holy or enter the temple
    • Female: 14 days by the same rule as menstruation, then 66 more that she cannot touch anything holy or enter the temple


      After completion, bring a sin offering

  • Chapters 13 and 14 cover how to deal with physical sores or bumps and disease 13. Rules for self-quarentine when dealing with infections, boils, moles, burns, etc 14. Purification from disease for the individual and the home

Important

[45] “As for the diseased person who has the infection, his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, and he must call out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ The whole time he has the infection he will be continually unclean. He must live in isolation, and his place of residence must be outside the camp.Contrary to the belief of some, this is not how the woman with the issue of blood would have lived [Matt 9:20]. Instead, this is for people that had an open wound. This was done for the protection of the community.Rather, the woman we see in Matthew would have lived by Lev 15:25-27. Her uncleanness really only impacted things she sat or layed upon, which undoubtedly impacted social life, and would cause any man that layed with her to become unclean for seven days. Her life was by no means “normal” but she was not walking around shouting “UNCLEAN”

  • Chapter 15 lays out law for unnatural discharges of the body 15. Cleanliness around unnatural discharges
  • Chapter 16 discusses the specifics of the Day of Atonement sacrifices 16. Day of Atonement
    • Sin + burnt offering
    • Dress in linen (“holy garments”) and bathe
    • Scapegoat: two goats get lots drawn. One is a sin offering. The other is present alive to the High Preist who places both hands on the head of the live goat and confesses over it the sins of the people. Then a man takes that goat into the wilderness. “The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, so he is to send the goat away in the wilderness.”
  • Chapter 17 clarifies a few points about offerings and what is clean to eat 17. Any animal being offered must be brought to the temple


    This was to prevent people sacrificing in their own way, with their own tools, and their own practices

    • Blood is never food
    • “Roadkill” makes you unclean until evening
  • Chapter 18, 19, and 20 cover sexual sin, child sacrifice, and fortune telling, along with various other laws 18. “Ervah Matters”: Laws of “uncovering” (sexual sin)
    • You may not have sex with:
      • “Any close relative” - biological OR step brothers and sisters
      • Mother or step-mother
      • Neices or nephews
      • Aunts and uncles, nor their spouses
      • Brothers or sisters in law
      • A woman and her daughter - “they are closely related to her - it is lewdness”
      • Your spouse’s siblings
      • A menstruating woman
      • Another person’s wife
    • Random aside inserted in the text: Do not offer your children as sacrifice
      • The same sex
      • Any animal
    • Do not marry those of the nations that God drives out before you - Canaanites, Jebusites, etc


      Note: there were estimates of up to 5 million Israelites that left Egypt (Ex 12:37 "There were about 600,000 men, plus their dependents. A mixed multitude also went up with them." That is to say, these rules wouldn't have been very hard to keep these rules

    1. Assorted
    • Honor your father and mother and keep the Sabbaths. Do not turn to idols
    • Timing around cooking and eating an offering
    • Leave the corners of the field unharvested so that the poor and foreigners may eat of it
    • Do not steal, do not lie, and do not “deal falsely” with citizens
    • Do not swear falsely
    • Do not oppress neighbors or rob them
    • Do not withhold wages
    • Do not curse a deaf person or cause a blind person to stumble
    • Do not judge unfairly: “you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich” [Lev 19:15]
    • Do not slander
    • Do not stand by when someone’s life is at stake
    • Do not hate your brother
    • Do not bear a grudge or take vengance but Love your neighbor as yourself
    • Do not allow animals to breed across species
    • Do not sow two seeds in the same field
    • Do not weird a garmet of two fabrics


      These three are related. It boils down to the idea of mixing things. God created things after their own kind (Gen 1:11, 21, 24 for plants, fish & birds, and land animals, respectively). We are the overseers of what God created and we are to respect His boundaries. Man-bear-pig is not something we should be ok with.

    • If a man lays with a slave woman, who is betrothed, he has sined and owes her compensation and God a sacrifice
    • The first three fruitful years of a fruit tree are forbidden. The forth is the Lord’s. After that it is yours (gardens actually grow better this way)
    • Blood is not food
    • Do not practice divination or soothsaying
    • Do not “round the corners of your hair” or “ruin the corners of your beard” - don’t dress like the pagans
    • Do not cut or tatoo yourself to honor the dead
    • Do not prostitue your daughter
    • Keep the Sabbaths and respect the Lord’s temple
    • Do not turn to familiar spirits
    • Honors the elders
    • When a foreigner resides in your land, do not oppress him
    • Do not cheat measures 20. Anyone that sacrifices a child to Molech is to be stoned to death and God himself will set His face against him. If God’s people do not punish him, “**I myself with set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all that follow after him”**
    • Turning to familiar spirist (sprits of the dead) commit idolitry
    • Assorted sexual sins:
      • If anyone curses their mom or dad, they are to be put to death by his own words
      • If a man commits adultry with another man’s wife, both are to be killed
      • If a man has sex with his mother or mother in law, both most be killed
      • If a man sleeps with his daughter in law they both must be killed
      • If a man sleeps with a man, they must both be killed
      • If a man sleeps with a woman and her mother, all three must be burned to death
      • If a man or woman sleeps with an animal, he and the animal must be killed
      • If a man sleeps with his sister or step-sister, both are to be cut off
      • If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman, both must be cut off
      • If one sleeps with an aunt, uncle, close relative, or a bro/sis-in-law “they will die childless”
    • Reminder to remember the clean and unclean animals and therefore be holy (set-apart)
    • A man or woman who consults with the dead is to be stoned


      Note that this follows an A-B-A pattern: Sexual sin in ch. 18, assorted laws in ch. 19, and a recap of ch 18 in ch 20. This is often done in the Torah to emphasize both points A and B by repeating A and sandwhiching B in between, almost as if surrouning with parenthesis

  • Chapters 21 and 22 covers rules specific to priests 21. Rules for Priests, High Priests, and the Priesthood
    • Cannot touch a dead body except for close relatives
    • Must not shave the corners of their beards or cut themselves
    • Not marry a prostitue or divorced woman
    • Cannot touch any dead body
    • Cannot leave the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary
    • Must marry a Levite virgin that was never married
    • Priests with a “flaw” cannot present an offering: blind, deaf, lame, slit nose, limb too long, broken limb, hunchback, spot in eye, rash, crushed testicle


      Think about what that meant for John the Baptist's father, Zechariah: Luke 1:18-20 details that he was struck mute by the angel Gabriel until he named his son John for his unbelief. In v8, he was actively serving in the temple whe this happened. God essentially stole his entire identity until his faith was proven in public again (Luke 1:59-64). God takes seriously the fulfilment of his word, and John was a part of that (Matt 18 lays out that John the Baptist HAD to come before Jesus could). Zechariah needed to understand the blessing and burden that God chose for him to recieve and it took him 9 months to really grasp it and prove that he had to the worl

    1. Regulations for cleanliness of eating the priestly stipends
    • Freewill offerings are only to be healthy animals without flaw. If we freely bring something to God, he expects that it’s not our trash
  • Chapter 23 discusses the Feasts of the LORD 23. The Feasts of the LORD
    • “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the LORD’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies - my appointed times:”
      • The weekly sabbath
      • Passover and Unleavened Bread
      • First Fruits
      • Festival of Weeks
      • The Festival of Horn Blasts (Day of Trumpets)
      • The day of Atonement (Chapter 16 states this is FOREVER)

        [29] “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work of any kind, both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides in your midst, [30] for on this day atonement is to be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins; you must be clean before the LORD. [31] It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. It is a perpetual statute.

      • The Festival of Booths
  • Chapter 24 institues a few items found in the Holy Place and covers historical judgements 24. Lampstand (Menorah) and Table of Showbread
    • A man that curses God is stoned
    • If a man beats another man to death, he must die
    • One who beats an animal to death must die - life for life
    • If a man harms another citizen, it must be done “[20] fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth - just as he inflicts an injury on another person that same injury must be inflicted on him.”


      Matt 5:38, Jesus makes this harder on us: "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you do not resist the evildoer. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well."

  • Chapter 25 discusses how to treat the land itself and periodic nation-wide forgiveness of debts 25. The “shmita” year - sabbath year - and the Jubilee year of release (the 50th year)

Important

Excile: 2 Chron 36:21[15] The Lord God of their ancestors continually warned them through his messengers, for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place. [16] But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, and ridiculed his prophets. Finally the Lord got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment. [17] He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him. [18] He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials. [19] They burned down the Lord’s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items. [20] He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power. [21] This took place to fulfill the Lord’s message delivered through Jeremiah. The land experienced its sabbatical years; it remained desolate for seventy years, as prophesied. [Jer 12:4, Jer 25:11-12, Jer 29:10]

  • Chapter 26 discusses the pros and cons of following the law and how redemption takes you from one to the other 26. What happens if you obey vs what happens if you disobey; restoration comes through confession and repentance
  • Chapter 27 continues the idea of redeption to the physical world by discussing various items that may need redemption in real life 27. Redemption of indentured servants, vowed animals (animals set to be sacrificed), vowed houses, fields, the first born, things permanently dedicated to God, the tithe

Final word: these are the words that God gave Moses at Mount Sinai

Making Sense of Some Weird Stuff

References taken from Salon as “verses Christians Love to ignore.” It’s got some definite “you are all a bunch of mean hypocrytes” vibes to it but lets discuss the verses themselves (limiting just to Leviticus for now).

11 kinds of Bible verses Christians Love to ignore

Some Bible-believing Christians play fast and loose with their sacred text.
https://www.salon.com/2014/05/31/11_kinds_of_bible_verses_christians_love_to_ignore_partner/

  • Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. Leviticus 19:19> [!important]

    Full context of the verse: “‘Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.”We’re told not to mix things. God created things after their own kind (Gen 1:11, 21, 24 for plants, fish & birds, and land animals, respectively). We are the overseers of what God created and we are to respect His boundaries. Man-bear-pig is not something we should be ok with, it’s playing God over what we were given dominion over to protect.This also extends to religion (“when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. a Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.” - Deut 7:2-4). The wearing of non-mixed garments is a way for us to be reminded of this, just as tassels on your garmets were to remind you of God’s commandments (Num 15:37-41).

  • Ye shall not round the corners of your heads. Leviticus 19:27> [!important]

    I can’t give the full context here but the context of Lev 18-20 is fairly clear. Just about everything listed in these chapters are things that the nations, that they were yet to conquer, were doing. God was first and foremost telling them not to copy the pagans of the day, then he goes into examples, including this one and [[Leviticus]]. This verse is (immediately) surrounded by the banning of drinking blood, divination or soothsaying, cutting or tatooing one’s self to mourn the loss of someone, and selling your daughter into prostitution. This one, and perhaps tatooing, just stands out because it’s something that modern people do in a rather innocent fashion. The application here is perhaps, don’t take something from another religion and rebrand it as Christian. This is actually happening in the Chrislam movement or or the people that preach that Jesus was a Buddhist monk.“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘I am the Lord your God! You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes. You must observe my regulations and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God.” - Lev 18:2-4

  • Uncleanness (actually two, separate points in the article but same argument here)
    • When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. Leviticus 15: 19-20
    • All that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. Leviticus 9:10


      Ok. First things first: unclean ≠ sin.Unclean means you're not allowed into the temple. Think about any high-ranking official, like a king. You do not cut your grass or go hunting all day and then go see the king, do you? Certainly not. First you go home and shower, trim your nails, put on your best clothes and maybe some cologne. Unclean is the same concept. It's not that you are a sinner for eating pork or menstruating but, rather, your body is not in a state that's fit for going before The King of the universe. Its not God being mean or picky, it's just him setting the same standard as earthly kings. He's important and asks that we bring him our best selves.Sin is the transgression of God's laws (1 John 3:4). We know that we've all sinned and come short of God's standard (Rom 3:23). Now, we know that Jesus did not sin (Heb 4:15); however, Jesus did become unclean (Lev 13-15 vs Matt 8:2-3 or Matt 9:20-22/Luke 8:43-48). What's more, in one of these, it seems to be on purpose, which confirms the assertion that clean ≠ sin. In these instances, Jesus would have had to stay out of the earthly temple and bathe and/or isolate himself as dictated in scripture. "Come as you are" is talking about sin, not cleanness.Speaking to these two, specifically, a lot of the laws can be thought about as raising life above death. That is, esteeming or enabling life is a good thing to do and death or loss of potential life is not something to be celebrated. For example, God tells us that, even on the Sabbath - when work is prohibited, we should help a neighbor who's animal is in distress. Menstruation, on the other hand, not only causes a discharge of blood but is also the lost opportunity for life. There's an obvious, medical benefit to limiting exposure of menstruating women (who did not often have undergarmets or tampons) to areas where people gather but there may also be a spiritual level. Again this is not punishment, just a matter-of-fact type of statement that you're not in a state that's fit for going before The King. The animals that God selects as "abominations" - nearly without exception - are animals that live only because another animal died: vultures, eagles, several variety of insects, sharks and dolphins, lions, dogs/wolves, etc. Others, like catfish, crab, pig, rabbit, or spiders and bees either eat or contain toxins. God still calls them "good" in Gensis - don't get me wrong - but "good", in a Hebrew mindset, means "works as it should." It doesn't mean "it's amazing and everyone should Love everything about it, ever" nor does it mean "good to eat." Just as some plants are good for food and others could kill you (the death cap mushroom, deadly nightshade, giant hogweed). The only one I still don't understand is rabbit, which is fairly nutritious and eats primarily grass. The only case I've seen against them is that they eat their own poop - and not in a "this is interesting" way that a dog does but it's required for them to even live a healthy [rabbit] life.

  • You may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT> [!important]

    King James actually has a slightly better translation of this work. עֶבֶד “Ebed” and אָמָה “Amah” are the words shown in the article to be “male” or “female slaves”, respectively. While they do technically mean “servant” they are often understood to mean “the lowest of the servants” or “servant to the servants,” so it’s not quite fair to say they were “just bond-servants”, though that is also a valid translation. These are the people that were taken as essentially POWs after the Israelites took over the land and they were treated as a normal, Israelite slave - which is comparitively better than most of rest of the world treated there’s. We see in Ex 21:1-21 we see that the true endentured servants (temporary slaves that were working to pay off a [usually monitary] debt) were treated somewhat decently and that they were to be freed at the end of 7 years (similar to other debts seen in Lev 25). These POWs technically didn’t have a home so let’s not kid ourselves and pretend that they had an easy life but I suppose it’s better than being homeless or a slave to another nation?

  • If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed. Leviticus 20:15 NLT> [!important]

    I really don’t understand why the author had an issue with this verse. I can only assume that they are (as most humans are) not cool with beastiality but are upset because the animal has to die, as well. [[Leviticus]]. If the animal or human were to become pregant, however unlikely, the offspring would be an abomination: a chimera.

  • Whosoever … hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookback, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken … He shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries. Leviticus 21:17-23 KJV> [!important]

    Sneaky sneaky, they cut out half of the first verse! “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations who has a physical flaw is to approach to present the food of his God.” Aaron’s sons are the preists, so that’s who it’s talking about. Not only is it in the text but it’s fairly clear if you know the sacrificial system. No one goes up to the vail except a preist - that’s the holy place. And no one but the HIGH priest can go through the second vail, which leads to the ark of the covenant.Is it messed up that God won’t allow deaf, mute, lame, or people with festering wounds to offer sacrifces on the alter? Not really. Maybe if you’re not familiar with the layout or proceedings but keep in mind some of the deminsions of things: Ex 27:18: “The length of the courtyard is to be one hundred fifty feet and the width seventy-five feet” and Ex 38:1: “He made the altar for the burnt offering of acacia wood seven feet six inches long and seven feet six inches wide – it was square – and its height was four feet six inches.” Also remember that, in order to make an offering, you often (not always) have to hold down and kill a living bull, sheep, goat, dove, or pidgeon. While it’s not impossible, some of this would be rather hard or downright impossible for someone with a disability, broken bone, open wound, or wounded testicles. Beyond that, priests often did things other than sacrifices, including ruling in cases of the Law, overseeing ritual cleasings, review of medical conditions (as is detailed in Lev 13-14). While dwarfism or a broken bone makes sacrifice hard, being mute or having a damaged eye makes some of these types of tasks difficult.Also remember that these offerings are going to God, The King. If he wants it delivered by a “normal” person, then that’s what he wants. Again, Leviticus is a book about how to approach our king.

And from

Mandrakes and Dove Blood: Biblical Health Care Anyone?

With an inerrant Bible and church leaders who channel the Almighty, conservative Christians are convinced that they know what God wants.
https://valerietarico.com/2012/07/20/mandrakes-and-dove-blood-biblical-health-care-anyone/

  • Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. (Leviticus 13:45-46)> [!important]

    [[Leviticus]]

  • The priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot (Leviticus 14:14).> [!important]

    The point their making in the article is how some of the bible just sounds crazy specific, odd, or is biggotted and lamenting that Christians try to prevent abortion from being readily available, so we should call them on their BS and tell them we’re doing it anyway because the Bible is silly. So I’m not a fan of where they’re even coming from but let’s do this.This is specifically to be done as a part of a purification ritual for someone now proclaimed to be clean after a serious illness like leprosy or open sores. First they are to shave their head and beard, wash their clothes, and bathe. Then they are to live alone for 7 days shave, wash their clothes, and bathe, again. The next day, they are to go to the temple. That’s where you see this verse. First they put blood of a sin offering on the ear, thumb, and toe. Then the priest offers olive oil to God and puts that olive oil in the same places. This is to symbolize the mixing of that which has died and that which is made holy - almost like baptism (but bloodier). It represents the death to the old and the renewal in holiness. After all of this, there is a sin and burnt offering to God to atone for any sins. Remember that this person has been in isolation for potentially quite a while and could not make either offering while in quarentine. Is it still weird? Honestly, yes. But at least there’s about as much logic as there is to a baptism. While it may seem foreign, it’s a similar idea.

Is it all done away with?

  • Colossians 2:14 = Nailed to the Cross And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses__, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us__, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross__” (Colossians 2:13-14)


    Reading it with the verse directly before it adds a lot of clarity. This is talking about our dead selves and our past sins, not the law that points out that sin. Our "record of wrongs" has been wiped clean by God's Love for us (1 Cor 13:5). To understand this better, let's look at the letter to the Romans. This letter is unique because Paul lays out his entire case to non-believers and Jews, start to end, in one letter. His others are answering specific questions to brothers and sisters that were already in the faith.

  • Romans Romans 1-6 is all one thought, read them together. He builds a case that all men, even the good ones, are sinners and that we all need to be set from the law that binds sin to death, that we my live. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that, yet confusion can arise in specific passages. Let’s look at some of those.
    Rom 2:13 =
    For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. Rom 3:20-22 = For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. Rom 5:1-2, 6 = Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory. […] [6] For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.


    Why would God do away with the very mechenism that defines sin. If sin does not exist, we have no need to be saved from it, and, therefore, no need for a savior. It's not that the law that shows us our sin is no more, it's that God's grace is sufficient for all of our lack in following the law (i.e. covers our sin). Paul echos this in Romans 5:12-21: [12] So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned – for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law. But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! [...] [18] Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous. Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. > [!important]
    I'd be remiss not to follow this up the same way Paul did, in Chapter 6, he emphasizes that this does NOT mean that we carry on sinning: Rom 6:1-2, 6-7, 12-14 = What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? [...] We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (For someone who has died has been freed from sin). [...] Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law [of man = legalism] but under grace.

  • Galatians Gal 2:15-18 = We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin? Absolutely not! But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law.


    We are justified by Jesus's faith. Period. End of story. No question. However, we still sin (break the laws of God). How can this be? Let's continue: Gal 2:19-20 = For through the law [of faith (Rom 3:27)] I died to the law [of sin and death (Rom 6:2)] so that I may live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law [of God], then Christ died for nothing! > [!important]
    So it still doesn't make sense! I died to sin. I'm no longer a slave to it! Why do I continue to sin? We know it's not Jesus tempting us but, rather, our own failings of the flesh. In fact, Jesus's grace toward me is the only reason I can still physically live - I'm that sinful! Paul continues in Chapter 2 to turn this around on the Galations, who had become confident in their good works and essentially added Jesus to their old, pagan faith. Paul reminded them that Jesus is the source of their salvation, not their legalistic practices - and this is good to be reminded of often. However, by no means does this nullify the law. It's an issue of focus. We need to constantly remember that following the law is simply what Paul might call "remaining dead to sin." There's no reason to boast in that: we're just doing the bare minimum. Will we mess up? Undoubtedly. But that's not Jesus or God's fault, and certainly not the fault of the law that they handed to us; rather it is our own. In those times, we are to look to Jesus's sacrifice with joy in our hearts that he loves in anyway. Paul affirms this in Chapters 3 and 4. Gal 3:15-26 = Brothers and sisters, I offer an example from everyday life: When a covenant [agreement, in the case of the Law, this was done at Mt Sinai] has been ratified, even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say, “and to the descendants,” referring to many, but “ and to your descendant,” referring to one, who is Christ. What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later [that is, the law of faith] does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to invalidate the promise. For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave it to Abraham through the promise. Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one. Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything and everyone under sin so that the promise [the promise of salvation from the death that accompanies sin] could be given – because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ – to those who believe. Now before [the law of] faith came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners until the coming faith would be revealed. Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. Gal 4:8-9 = Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain. I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong! > [!important]
    He continues in Chapter 5 and turns to the issue of circumcision - something that seems to come up in just about every book in the new testiment. Paul argues that circumcision of the flesh is not needed for a gentile to be saved - something I think we can all agree with. He argues that the physical means nothing if there's not a spiritual circumcision. That is, if the heart doesn't change, all you're doing is mutilating yourself. Paul constantly had to argue with religious leaders within Christianity and Judaism on this point and seems to belabor that, if you don't get this, you really don't understand salvation. Salvation is free and requires nothing of us. The only other route to heaven is to live a perfect life - one in which you obey the entire law, flawlessly. Paul's not arguing that circumcision is bad - per se - but that it's not at all relevant to the topic of salvation nor to the law of faith. In Acts 15, we see a soft expectation from the Apostles, including Paul, that new Christians are attending synagogue - Acts 15:19-21. I think it's fair to say that attending a synagogue would encourage law keeping. Gal 5:1-6 = For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love.

  • Other

    New testiment scriptures teaching to uphold the law

    • Matt 5:17-20 = “**Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets**. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
    • John 14:15-17 = “If you Love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
    • 1 John 3:4 = Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness [one without law]__. And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.
    • Rom 3:31 = Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
    • James 1:22-25 = But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres__, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
    • James 2:17 = So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
    • 1 Peter 1:22 = You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God__.
    • 2 Tim 3:16-17 = All Scripture [at time of writing, “scripture” is only the old testiment] is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

    Or, from the old testiment:

    • Psalm 19:7-10 = The law of the Lord is perfect****, converting the soul****; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart__; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes__; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether__. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
    • Deut 29:29 = Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.
    • Deut 30:11-144 = Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

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