3/07/11
Leviticus 16-18
Leviticus 16:1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died. 2 The Lord said to Moses:
Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die; for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and shall have the linen undergarments next to his body, fasten the linen sash, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy vestments. He shall bathe his body in water, and then put them on. 5 He shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 He shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting; 8 and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9 Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
11 Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house; he shall slaughter the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12 He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of crushed sweet incense, and he shall bring it inside the curtain 13 and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the covenant, or he will die. 14 He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times.
15 He shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all their sins; and so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which remains with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 No one shall be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement on its behalf, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on each of the horns of the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
20 When he has finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.
23 Then Aaron shall enter the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen vestments that he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. 24 He shall bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his vestments; then he shall come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, making atonement for himself and for the people. 25 The fat of the sin offering he shall turn into smoke on the altar. 26 The one who sets the goat free for Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp. 27 The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp; their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be consumed in fire. 28 The one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp.
29 This shall be a statute to you forever: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall deny yourselves, and shall do no work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. 30 For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. 31 It is a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall deny yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 The priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the linen vestments, the holy vestments. 33 He shall make atonement for the sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once in the year for all their sins. And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him.
The Slaughtering of Animals
Leviticus 17:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
2 Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them: This is what the Lord has commanded. 3 If anyone of the house of Israel slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside the camp, 4 and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to present it as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, he shall be held guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood, and he shall be cut off from the people. 5 This is in order that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they offer in the open field, that they may bring them to the Lord, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and offer them as sacrifices of well-being to the Lord. 6 The priest shall dash the blood against the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and turn the fat into smoke as a pleasing odor to the Lord, 7 so that they may no longer offer their sacrifices for goat-demons, to whom they prostitute themselves. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.
8 And say to them further: Anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, 9 and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to sacrifice it to the Lord, shall be cut off from the people.
Eating Blood Prohibited
10 If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel: No person among you shall eat blood, nor shall any alien who resides among you eat blood. 13 And anyone of the people of Israel, or of the aliens who reside among them, who hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.
14 For the life of every creature—its blood is its life; therefore I have said to the people of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off. 15 All persons, citizens or aliens, who eat what dies of itself or what has been torn by wild animals, shall wash their clothes, and bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening; then they shall be clean. 16 But if they do not wash themselves or bathe their body, they shall bear their guilt.
Sexual Relations
Leviticus 18:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes. 4 My ordinances you shall observe and my statutes you shall keep, following them: I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord.
6 None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness: I am the Lord. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father. 9 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s flesh. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are your flesh; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a rival to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.
19 You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman’s wife, and defile yourself with her. 21 You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion.
24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves. 25 Thus the land became defiled; and I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the citizen or the alien who resides among you 27 (for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled); 28 otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from their people. 30 So keep my charge not to commit any of these abominations that were done before you, and not to defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
On March 7, 1774, the British passed the Boston Port Act, closing the harbor to all commerce to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. The surrounding towns rallied to their aid by secretly sending food to the inhabitants of Boston. William Prescott, who commanded the colonial militia at Bunker Hill wrote: “Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock… Our forefathers passed the vast Atlantic, spent their blood and treasure, that they might enjoy… liberties… and transmit them to their posterity…. Now if we should give them up, can our children rise up and call us blessed?”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
A person may have gold and a wealth of pearls,
but lips informed by knowledge
are a precious jewel.
Seize his clothes,
because he guaranteed a stranger’s loan;
take them as security for that unknown woman.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Undaunted radiance
Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. --- Romans 8:37.
Paul is speaking of the things that might seem likely to separate or wedge in between the saint and the love of God; but the remarkable thing is that nothing can wedge in between the love of God and the saint. These things can and do come in between the devotional exercises of the soul and God and separate individual life from God; but none of them is able to wedge in between the love of God and the soul of the saint. The bedrock of our Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary, a love we never can and never shall merit. Paul says this is the reason we are more than conquerors in all these things, super-victors, with a joy we would not have but for the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
The surf that distresses the ordinary swimmer produces in the surf-rider the super joy of going clean through it. Apply that to our own circumstances, these very things—tribulation, distress, persecution, produce in us the super joy; they are not things to fight. We are more than conquerors through Him in all these things, not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. The saint never knows the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation,” says Paul.
Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can alter. The experiences of life, terrible or monotonous, are impotent to touch the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Easter
Easter. I approach
the years' empty tomb.
What has time done with
itself? Is the news worth
the communicating? The word's
loincloth can remember
little. A thin, cold wind
blows from beyond the abysm
that I gawp into. But supposing
there were bones; the darkness
illuminated like a museum?
In glass cases I have
peered at the brittle bundles,
exonerating my conscience
with mortality's tears.
But here, true to my name,
I have nothing to hold on
to, an absence so much richer
than a presence, offering
instead of the skull's
leer an impaled possibility
for faith's fingertips to explore
R.S. Thomas - circa. 2000
Berakhot 17b, 19a
Some of the things that people do are almost mechanical in nature. When the salesperson in the store says: “Thanks, and have a nice day” or “How are you doing today?” we assume that they are giving a conventional greeting. We do not really expect that person to hear the story of our day. We do not foresee a merchant who hardly knows us to take a sincere interest in our lives. The greeting is perfunctory at best.
Yet, when we receive a greeting card for a birthday or anniversary, we do expect that it was given with “every good intention.” That is, we assume that the sender truly hoped that we have a happy birthday or anniversary. None of us would want to receive a card that was sent without proper intention, even if we received only a standard greeting card with a simple signature and no personal greeting added. Thus, it appears that even in our lives, some things can be done mechanically, requiring little thought or purpose, while other actions need our focus and attention.
The Rabbis, in discussing the recitation of the Sh’ma, were also talking about the problem of Jewish worship. Does every prayer require our specific intention? Must we totally concentrate on what we are doing? Clearly, by saying that some mitzvot do not require proper intention, the Rabbis were allowing for the fact that not every action, every minute of the day, can be so focused. By saying that the Sh’ma requires specific intention, the Rabbis were also saying that those things which are the most important to us should be the object of our attention.
A mitzvah like niḥum aveilim, comforting mourners, is the type of important experience that needs our attention. We may say a ritualized formula that is provided by our tradition—“May God comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem”—but we need not say it in a mechanical or cursory way. Even a ritual can be done with feeling.
Every so often, we read the story of a famous actor, powerful politician or world-renowned scientist who, despite little or no parental attention or direction, became a successful, qualified, distinguished adult. We know this to be possible but it is the exception, rather than the rule. In general, good outcomes require our concentration and attention along the way. As parents, we know that our actions require intent. It is possible, but not likely, that our children will learn the values we want them to learn without our focus and efforts. It is more likely that they will become the type of adults we envision if we have the proper intention.
Some mitzvot can be performed accidentally, while others require specific and formal intention. What seems clear and unambiguous is the message of the Gemara: As an ideal, before the fact, we should pay proper attention to our actions.
A person should never give Satan an opening.
Mishnah (3:1): One whose dead relative has not yet been buried is exempt from reciting the Sh’ma, from the Tefillah [Amidah] and from tefillin, and from all the mitzvot stated in the Torah. The pallbearers and all those who take over for them—whether in front of or behind the bier: those who are in front of the bier, are exempt; those who are behind the bier, if they are needed, they are obligated; and both are exempt from the Tefillah.
Gemara: The Rabbis taught: “Those who are involved with the eulogy when the dead has not yet been buried slip away one by one and recite [the Sh’ma]. If the body is not in their presence, they sit and recite it, and he [the mourner] sits silent. They stand up and pray [the Amidah] and he stands up and accepts the judgment and says: ‘Lord of the Universe! I have greatly sinned before You, and You did not punish me one-thousandth part. May it be Your will, Lord our God, that You repair our breaches and the breaches of all Your people, the house of Israel, with mercy.’ ” Abaye said: “A person must not talk this way, since Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, and so it was taught in the name of Rabbi Yosé: ‘A person should never give Satan an opening [open one’s mouth to Satan].’ ” And Rabbi Yosef said: “Where in the text do we get this from? As it says: ‘We should be like Sodom’ [Isaiah 1:9]. What did the prophet answer them? ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you chieftains of Sodom’ [Isaiah 1:10].”
Tefillin are often called phylacteries. This term is based on the Greek translation of tefillin, meaning “a protection” or “amulet,” and is found in the Christian Bible, Matthew 23:5. The Rabbis sometimes refer to the tefillin as an amulet of sorts as well. The Torah prescribes tefillin not as a preventative but “as a sign on your hand … as a symbol on your forehead” (Deuteronomy 6:8). In reality, the Torah talks of “sign” and “symbol” (or “frontlet”) but does not specify what kind. The Rabbis were well aware that the exact nature of this mitzvah is not given in the Torah, and they justify the tefillin as an enactment “of the Scribes,” that is, a rabbinic law based on oral tradition. Apparently, many Jews did not wear tefillin during the time of the Talmud, and this mitzvah was not widely observed in medieval France and Spain. Moses of Coucy reprimanded the Jews of Spain in 1296, and—according to his account—thousands accepted the duty of putting on tefillin. While tefillin has been largely a male ritual throughout the ages, some women today have accepted this mitzvah. There is reference in the Talmud to a woman, Michal, daughter of Saul, putting on tefillin. (Eruvin 96a).
The original discussion in the Mishnah and Gemara is on exemptions from reciting the Sh’ma while occupied in the burial of the dead. Sh’ma is a central prayer in Jewish worship. It consists of three paragraphs from the Torah and is recited twice daily, morning and night. The word Tefillah is used in modern Hebrew for prayer or worship. In the Talmud, it refers to the prayer par excellence, the Amidah, literally “the standing” prayer. Tefillin are boxes with leather straps, worn during weekday morning prayer and containing four sections of the Torah on parchment.
This topic leads to the question of what the mourners should say while involved in the burial of the dead and which of the usual prayers they are exempt from reciting. The text presents an anonymous source that holds that the mourner should accept God’s judgment, admitting that God has given better than was deserved. But this approach presents a problem to Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish and Rabbi Yosé. In their eyes, the mourner’s admission of being spared from even a small part of the punishment is “giving Satan an opening,” an invitation to Satan to speak, in other words, asking for trouble. Why tell God that you deserve more punishment than you have received?
In Jewish sources, Satan sometimes appears as an actual personality, the chief devil who opposes God. Satan (in Hebrew, the accent on the second syllable and the definite article is used: ha-Satan, the Satan) means “the adversary,” that which obstructs, and has come to symbolize the sum total of the evil forces in the world.
Rabbi Yosé agrees that one is exempt from reciting Sh’ma while occupied with the dead. (The reason for this exemption is partly based on the rule that “one who is doing one mitzvah is freed from doing another mitzvah.”) At the same time, he feels that you should never say or do anything that would be the cause of your own calamity.
“The breaches” refers to the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Yosef expands on Rabbi Yosé’s idea by finding a prooftext from Isaiah. In actuality, Rabbi Yosef takes Isaiah slightly out of context. Isaiah’s exact words (translated) are: “Had not the Lord of Hosts left us some survivors, we should be like Sodom, another Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you chieftains of Sodom; give ear to our destruction, you folk of Gomorrah!”
Rabbi Yosef attempts to show that the Israelites gave Satan an opening and brought their own fate upon themselves. The Israelites said: “We should be like Sodom.” By comparing themselves to Sodom and giving Satan an opening—says Rabbi Yosef—they created a self-fulfilling prophecy, for Isaiah then calls them “You chieftains of Sodom” (without the word “like”). Their own words are thrown back in their faces; their own image becomes their fate!
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. --- Psalm 103:13
A father’s compassion tenderly lifts up those who fall. When your child falls down, as children are very apt to do, especially when they first begin to walk, don’t you pity them? Is there a nasty cut across the knee, and tears? The mother takes the child up in her arms, and she has some sponge and water to take the grit out of the wound, and she gives a kiss and makes it well. I know mothers have wondrous healing lips! And sometimes, when God’s servants do really fall, it is very lamentable, it is very sad, and it is well that they should cry. It were a pity that they should be willing to lie in the mire, but when they are up again and begin crying, and the wound bleeds—well, let them not keep away from God, for as a father has compassion on his fallen child, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
Have you come in here tonight with that cut knee of yours? I am sorry you have fallen, but I am glad that our blessed Master is willing to receive you still. Come and trust in him who is mighty to save, just as you did at first, and begin again tonight. Come along! Some of us have had to begin again many times. You do the same. If you are not a saint you are a sinner, and Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Put your trust in him, and you will find restoration, and maybe through that very fall you will learn to be more careful, and from now on you will walk more uprightly, to his honor and glory. --- C. H. Spurgeon
Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers
Walking in fellowship
The people of Israel were to be wholly separated unto the Lord. In all features of their individual and corporate lives, this people who bore God’s name was to be holy.
Many of the features of Old Testament Law, particularly those having to do with dietary and other elements, had no underlying moral basis. The people were given those laws to help establish a distinction between them and all the other peoples of the world. Such laws reminded Israel that she was a people of God, and because of that relationship, was to be different from others.
In the latter part of Leviticus we discover regulations that do have deep moral roots: regulations that are designed to create a just and moral society.
How vital to note that included are regulations concerning the feasts and festivals at which one is to worship God. It is impossible to have a truly just society without a deep faith in and a commitment to the Lord God.
Separation: Way of Fellowship
Rules for people 18–20
Rules for priests 21–22
Rules concerning feasts 23–24
Rules concerning Canaan 25–27
Separation. The key Hebrew term is badal. It means to remove from something, and thus to make a distinction between them. In Genesis 1 God separated light from dark, land from sea. Now God separated Israel from all other nations of the world to be His own covenant people. A separation to God linked everything in Jewish life to her Lord.
We noted in the last unit that many of the regulations under the Mosaic Law had no “logical” purpose. We cannot try to explain the dietary laws, for instance, by arguing that flesh Israel was forbidden as food is somehow intrinsically “dirty.” These and a number of other Old Testament regulations that structured the lifestyle of Israel were designed to underline this people’s separation from all other people. Israel was in covenant relationship with Almighty God, and the life lived in the nation was to be different from life as it was lived in other lands.
Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary
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