2.28.2015

Leviticus 11-12

Chapter 11

  • Animals okay to eat:
  • land animals with cloven hoof and that chew cud
  • sea animals with fins and scales
  • some birds are out
  • insects with four legs and jointed legs are okay
  • If you touch unclean things you have to wash your clothes and are unclean until sunset.
  • Any kitchen item touched has to be3 destroyed, even a stove or oven!
  • This is tied to your holiness.



How this is about Jesus

  • Jesus repeals this code for us in Mark 7
  • The purpose was to illustrate the distinction between holy and defiled, which principle continues today
  • Jesus revamps this in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:48
  • The point of the food laws was NOT nutritional, but ethical: distinguish between clean and unclean.  See verses 44-47.



Chapter 12
After birth, a boy is to be circumcised on the 8th day.  The mother is unclean for 40 days, then brings a sin and burnt offering to the temple.  If it's a girl she's unclean for 80 days.  The reason for the impurity is probably the loss of blood during birth - emissions of fluid generally made you unclean.  No reason is given for the double time for the girl, but it would go against Genesis 1:27 to say a daughter is less wanted or more impure inherently than a son.

How this is about Jesus

  • Joseph and Mary fulfill this, and meet Simeon and Anna in the temple.
  • This passage is a reminder of the curse and promise in Genesis 3.  Birth would involve pain, now that we sinned, but through birth would come a redeemer to cleanse away all impurity (1 Timothy 2:15).

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