Friday, August 14, 2009

The sticky part of Leviticus


I believe I said something about blogging to let you know that I can't blog.

Hmm. I guess it doesn't count if I fall asleep mid-blog.

Dude. Leviticus is killing me. I'm losing steam. Got to push through it, tho. Funny, I'm learning a lot about focusing on the bigger picture to get myself through things I don't want to do. Suppose this is par for the course.

So, as you may have guessed, I don't want to blog tonight. Actually, I started this blog planning on apologetically explaining that I couldn't blog again tonight. But the truth is, I can.

So, here we go!

The Skinny:

Chapter 15 - All about periods and discharges. Chapter 16 - The day of atonement - how Aaron is supposed to enter the Most Holy Place. Also, the 10th day of the 7th month is to be a day of fasting and Sabbath. Chapter 17 - Don't eat the blood of an animal. Chapter 18 - A long list of what not to do sexually speaking. Chapter 19 - Another long list with more laws. Some basic [Do not steal [19:11a]], and some bizarre [Do not mate different kinds of animals [19:19a]]. Chapter 20 - The heady consequences of disobedience. Chapter 21 - The rules for the priests. Chapter 22 - Continuation of the priestly rules. Also, we learn that in most circumstances [specifically for vows] sacrifices need to be pure and unblemished. Chapter 23 - Feasts and Festivals! Important because this is a nation of former slaves [who, of course, don't get a day off - ever]. Chapter 24 - Oil and bread for God - to be a tradition - every Sabbath. Also, a break for a narrative - and it's a doozy! A man blasphemes God's holy name and so, the Lord instructs the Israelites to stone him to death. They do. Chapter 25 - The Sabbath year [every 7th year [where they are not supposed to sow or prune]] and the year of Jubilee [every 50th year [same as the Sabbath year, but also - any land that has been sold in the last 49 years is to return to its original owners [except in the case of a walled city - there the seller has the option to buy back for a year - after that it's the seller's for good]]].

Stuff I can't help but bring up

25:44-46 are by far the most difficult verses for me.

"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves." [44]
"You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly." [46]

OW. That cuts deep. I'm going to have to wrestle with these ones. Scott McKnight makes some really helpful points - God speaks to people in the their ways and days. In their own culture.

But the thing is, he also just brought these people out of slavery. I can't help but wonder, why doesn't he just condemn it altogether?

The Apologetics Study Bible offers a really helpful explanation. Slavery in those times was somewhat equivalent to prison. The object in 25:35-55 is to make slavery among these holy people as humane as possible [pg. 190].

That makes a whole lot of sense. I still have a hard time with what seems like a double standard between Israelites and other people. But when I think about it, my mind immediately drifts to the story of Jesus talking with the woman at the well and the parable about the good Samaritan.

Hmmm.

The year of Jubilee!

I love the year of Jubilee! It's all about trusting God and community and giving back. As we'll learn later, that toward the end [the last centuries before Babylonian captivity] , they neglected to do it [and things went to pot] [ASB, pg 191].

The photo at the top of this blog post illustrates my own personal year of Jubilee. ;)

I'm so sleepy. I could talk more about the many controversial topics in these 12 pages [if you're wondering about the stoning narrative, see JMS's comment from the last blog - I think his points help with this passage, too - also, I think I've heard somewhere [I'm not 100% sure, tho] that this guy did more than just "take the Lord's name in vain". And the ASB notes that blasphemy brings guilt on both the blasphemer and those who hear it. So it was essential to rid themselves of the guilt, they had to lay their hands on the blasphemer's head [pg. 188].

But it's pillow time, and so I'll quit while I'm behind.

G'night. Sweet dreams.

Tomorrow's reading: Leviticus 26:1 - Numbers 7:89
Posted by brandyglows at 1:06 AM
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2 comments:

  1. Jermaine WalkerAugust 16, 2009 at 2:27 AM

    Just so you know, you are doing an awesome job making Leviticus interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AndreaAugust 17, 2009 at 9:48 AM

    You are making it more interesting and I also had a hard time with the why of slavery after these people were slaves, why in the world would they want slaves....

    ReplyDelete

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