Coming to my annual foray into Leviticus (reading through the Bible each year), I thought I would try to summarize in my own words what is written, to help me make sense of it, and maybe it will be beneficial to you, too.
Chapter 21
The priests were called to stricter rules of cleanliness and set-apart-ness:
- no touching the dead or mourning by self-bodily harm
- marriage only to a virgin.
Note the stricter calling also applied to the priest's family/children. The punishment for an adulterous daughter was burning instead of stoning (9). Things get even more strict for the high priest (10-15).
The reason for all of this is that the priest must be holy, because Yahweh is holy (8).
Priests with physical defects (broken, deformed, diseased, or abnormally large or small limbs, eunuchs) could not bring Israel's offerings to God (16-23).
I've heard it explained that the reason the priest and Levite would not help the man in the Good Samaritan parable was that they were on their way to Jerusalem to serve in the temple, and if they helped and touched the "half-dead" man, they were considered ritually unclean (tradition may have added this half-dead category). Doesn't excuse their behavior, but explains it partially. Jesus' point becomes that loving your neighbor is more important than keeping ritual law.
Chapter 22
1-16 - only priests and their household members could eat the offerings of Israel set aside for the priest. All eating them must be ritually clean when doing so.
17-25 - animals offered by Israel had to be free of deformity or blemish, though minor things like abnormally long/short limbs were okay. Malachi lets Israel have it for giving the political ruler their best in taxes, and giving God their left-over, lower quality animals (Malachi 1:8).
No comments:
Post a Comment