Today’s passage: Leviticus 20

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapter 20 contains much the same content as chapter 18.  However, the required punishments are added in 20.
• Verse 8 states the proper tension of the grace of God and the responsibility of man.
  • God is the one who sets His people apart, sanctifies, saves, etc.
  • Man is still responsible to pursue obedience, godliness, righteousness.
    • We are saved by grace.  We are sanctified by God’s gracious action (Philippians 1:6).
    • And, we press on, striving toward the goal (Philippians 3:14).
• From the ESV Study Bible: “Cursing one’s parents is not merely using condescending or abusive language toward them but refers to a serious breach of a child’s duty to honor his parents.  It means to “make light of something,” and is the exact opposite of “honoring” one’s parents.”

Questions to consider:

1. What was the prevailing punishment for the sins listed in this chapter?  Even if the punishment was not the most severe, what still happens in the relationship between the one who sinned and the rest of the people?  How seriously did God take these sins?  Why do you think that is?
2. What happens when we abandon the idea of God’s proactive grace for our salvation and sanctification?  What do we lose out on?  What would the consequences be?
3. What happens when we abandon the idea of our responsibility to trust and obey?  What do we lose out on (And others around us)?  What would the consequences be?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 19

Helpful thoughts:

• God, having attributes only He possesses and being the creator of all things, is set apart from all the rest of creation.  He is holy.  One of the things God is set apart from is sin.  If we are to grow in godliness (Or in Christ-likeness) we also must strive to be set apart from sin.
• Whenever something other than God takes the place of God in our hearts, more sin will soon follow.
• The Israelites were not to live as the Canaanites or other pagan peoples did in the land before them.  Verses 26-31 contain many of their practices.
  • The problem with the tattoos of verse 28 were that they were included in pagan worship.  It wasn’t the practice of tattooing itself, but the pagan worship that went along with it.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways can we see in this passage the greatest commandments being illustrated (Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself)?
2. How were the people of Israel to treat “strangers” (Foreigners) who came into the land to live with them?  What is the difference between a stranger who lives next to Israel and a stranger who lives with Israel?  What were those strangers to become once they moved into Israel?
3. How should a person live after their salvation, after they become part of the church?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 18

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel was to be distinct from all other nations.  Separated unto God and separated from sin.  Holy.  Chapter 18 gives commands concerning sexual holiness.
• The nations surrounding Israel (even the nations in the Promised Land who preceded Israel) committed sexual sins which God called “abominations” and were judged for them.  These were not just sinful for Israel, but for all peoples.
  • An abomination is a thing that causes disgust, a detestable act.
• These laws forbade incest (Both by blood and through marriage), intimacy during menstruation, homosexuality, bestiality and adultery.
  • Verse 19 contains the only law in this chapter that is not repeated in the New Testament in some way (Intimacy during menstruation).  This law makes sense in the context of the Old Covenant in keeping with Leviticus 15:19-24.

Questions to consider:

1. What laws do we read in this passage that were violated even by the patriarchs of Israel (Prior to the written law)?  Were those men and their families saved by their obedience or by turning out “OK” in the end or were they saved through something else (Romans 4:3)?
2. How would the prohibition in verse 21 fit into the context of the rest of the chapter?  If one of the purposes of sex is procreation, how does verse 21 (Among many other problems!) go against God’s design?  How might this even help us to understand verses 19 and 20 better?
3.  Beyond just the people involved, who/what suffers as a result of these sexual sins?  How does the “land” (Or, the people group(s) of the land) suffer when sexual sin runs rampant?  What is the true answer for those who are bound up in these abominations (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 17

Helpful thoughts:

• If any sacrifices are going to be made, they are to be made to the Lord and they are to be made in the manner which He prescribed.
  • To sacrifice/give worship to a false god is sin.
  • To sacrifice/give worship to God in “your own” way (A way that differs from the way God commanded) is sin.
• The valuing of blood communicates an important lesson to Israel.  It is through the shedding of blood that the dead will be brought to life.  There is life in the blood. (Hebrews 9:22)
• The blood of animals who died naturally or at the hands of other beasts would not be able to drain properly.  So, those who ate the meat from these animals were considered “unclean” and needed to be cleansed.

Questions to consider:

1. What did these commands prevent Israel from doing?  What was the apparent physical restriction?  What were the spiritual restrictions which would have kept Israel’s focus on the Lord and the redemption He alone provides?
2. How does the first bullet-point above still apply today?  Even when we desire to follow, serve and worship the Lord, how should we go about it?  What is our guide and standard as we give ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2)?
3. How does this picture of life coming from the death of another point forward to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15)?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 16

Helpful thoughts:

• God gives the laws concerning The Day of Atonement.
• The timing of the giving of this law implies Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu had not just offered “strange fire” or unauthorized fire, but that they had also entered the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle.  This occasioned God’s instruction about who may enter, how they must enter, when they must enter, and what they must do inside.
• The sacrifices of The Day of Atonement were necessary (Served as an annual prerequisite) for all other service, offerings and sacrifices made.  If this day was not observed, the rest of what the priests did would be null and void, even disobedient.
• The people “afflicting” themselves had to do with denial of desires and was primarily observed through fasting and prayer.

Questions to consider:

1. How was this blood sacrifice different than the rest?  Where was the blood taken?  How often was it given?  By whom and with what preparations?
2. What appears to have been the purpose of the goat which was released, the scapegoat?  What did he carry away with him?  What did the other goat (Which was chosen by the Lord) have to do?  In what way could they both represent what Christ did for us?
3. How did Jesus end the need for an annual Day of Atonement and therefore also end the need for any other sacrifice (Hebrews 9:7-14)?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 15

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s chapter contains sensitive information concerning males and females.  All of these “discharges” from the body pertain to the reproductive organs.
• It should be noted again, uncleanness does not mean sinful.  God was not telling the people not to participate in these things or not to care for one another in the midst of them.  He is simply giving instruction for cleansing and ensuring that people interacting with others (Husbands and wives or care-takers) have properly cleansed themselves.  This could have also prevented the spread of infection.
• It is not a sin to have a “discharge” but it would have been sinful to carry on with the discharge (specifically and especially those from verses 2-15 and 25-30) without caring for the safety of others, even to bring potential sickness into the tabernacle where others would be present.
  • This is another command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways do we still conduct ourselves in cleanliness in these areas with or without the law?  Meaning, how do these laws just make practical sense given the lack of technologies and products available to the people at the time?
2. What was the heart or the spirit of these laws?  What or who was God looking out for in these commands?
3. How does Galatians 5:14 help us see the underlying purpose of these sorts of laws?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 14

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s chapter details how a person or property is declared “clean” after diseases, molds or fungi declared to be “leprous” have been cured or removed.
• When a person had been healed, provision was made for those who are unable to afford as much grain or larger animals.
• In both cases (Whether for a person or a house) the bird that is released into the open country may well be a picture meant to symbolize the departure of the “disease.”

Questions to consider:

1. What parts of these laws seem like good sense and appropriate response to sickness or mold-like issues?  What is the practical side of all this?
2. What parts of these laws seem ceremonial?
3. Why is it good to remember the Lord in all things, even things that we think we are able to take care of on our own through practical steps?

Today’s passage: Leviticus 13

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapters 13 and 14 give instruction on what to do concerning leprosy (Skin diseases).  Chapter 13 deals with the diseases and what to do when the disease is present.  Chapter 14 gives law for what to do once the disease has been healed.
• The word used for these diseases has historically been “leprosy.”  However, a number of different diseases may be in view here.  Furthermore, what is often referred to as leprosy today is actually a condition that would not have been present in this time in Israel.  With all this in mind, it’s hard to know all the diseases which were included in what is called “leprosy” in the Old Testament Law.
  • Here’s a helpful article from Answers in Genesis.
  • When the leprosy (or the “disease”) was in people’s clothing, this was likely a mold or fungus.
• From the ESV Study Bible notes; being declared unclean “requires such persons to live outside the camp until they are free of their disease, and to present a sacrifice as part of a cleansing ceremony.  Modern readers should not confuse this kind of “uncleanness” with “under God’s condemnation,” nor even with “excluded from the love of the community”: the purpose of this law is to prevent what is unclean from coming into contact with what is holy (a contact that would be dangerous for the unclean person and for the whole community).”

Questions to consider:

1. How were the priests serving the well-being of the people in these laws?  What was their task?  Why would it have made sense for the priests to carry out these laws in that day and age?
2. In what way was the leprous person loving his neighbor as himself by being obedient to these laws (In the same way a person with a terrible stomach flu loves his neighbors by staying home from work or school)?
3. How did Jesus show his divinity and love with the leprous man in Matthew 8:1-4?