A Work in Progress….

Leviticus 7:27 Anyone who eats blood must be cut off from their people.’ ”

Just as I was thinking “Good grief! There are sooooo many rules!”, it occurred to me that if your world has gone sideways, having these very specific rules to cling to can be a lifeline.

Leviticus 7:28-29 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord. 

When you don’t know which way is up, knowing specifically what is expected can be such a blessing.

Leviticus 7:30 With their own hands they are to present the food offering to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering. 

Precious Savior, Thank You that in the middle of my frustration over more rules and more specificity, You remind me why having so many rules that you can count on can be a blessing. It’s not about me. It’s about drawing closer to You. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 7:31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 7:22-23 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. 

According to commentary, “Nineteen offenses resulted in a person receiving the punishment of ‘being cut off’” from their people. Why nineteen? Why not eighteen? Or twenty?

Leviticus 7:24 The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. 

Just the idea of that kind of gatekeeper, someone who’s job it is to count offenses and keep track, makes me incredibly uncomfortable because I know where that kind of scorekeeping can lead, and it’s nowhere good.

Leviticus 7:25 Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be presented to the Lord must be cut off from their people. 

Precious Savior, Thank You that You do not encourage a gatekeeper mentality. Help us to love You and love others to the best of our abilities, admitting when we get it wrong, giving ourselves grace, and trying again. Amen.

Leviticus 7:26 And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal.

Have a blessed day.

Leviticus 7:20 But if anyone who is unclean eats any meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the Lord, they must be cut off from their people. 

Commentary talks about modern folks who know they have sinned but try to take communion (or other spiritual gifts) with God despite their sin as also being, essentially, unclean. But here’s the thing, I’d wager that there are a healthy number of “good Christian people” who have sinned in word or deed, knowingly or unknowingly, who think they are just fine with God. 

Leviticus 7:21 Anyone who touches something unclean—whether human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean creature that moves along the ground —and then eats any of the meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the Lord must be cut off from their people.’ ”

Don’t get me wrong. There are absolutely those folks who know they have sinned, but there are far more, I think, who have cut down God’s people, who have judged and schemed, and jockeyed for position who think they are living just right, when God knows their hearts. 

Leviticus 7:22-23 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. 

Precious Savior, You did not put me on this earth to judge. You call me to love: Love You and love others. Thank You that the job of judge does not fall to me. Thank You that You know our hearts. Help me to love and not to judge. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 7:24 The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 7:16 “ ‘If, however, their offering is the result of a vow or is a freewill offering, the sacrifice shall be eaten on the day they offer it, but anything left over may be eaten on the next day. 

As I read commentary on today’s verses, I keep thinking about context and abuse when it comes to God’s word. Commentary talks about how hot it was in the climate and how, potentially, that’s why there were such strict rules about how many days after the sacrifice was offered that the meat could be consumed. Putrifaction was not part of the ritual.

Leviticus 7:17 Any meat of the sacrifice left over till the third day must be burned up. 

But I can’t help thinking of the Pharisees and Sadducees and their abuse of these rules. They used them as “Got ya” moments, as in “You aren’t following the letter of the religious law and now I”ve got ya!” 

Leviticus 7:18 If any meat of the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day, the one who offered it will not be accepted. It will not be reckoned to their credit, for it has become impure; the person who eats any of it will be held responsible.

Precious Savior, I just don’t think You ever intended Your word to be a “Caught you doing wrong” trap. You call us, again and again, to love You and love others. Help me put aside my own prejudices and love as You love. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 7:19 “ ‘Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up. As for other meat, anyone ceremonially clean may eat it.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 7:12 “ ‘If they offer it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering they are to offer thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with oil, and thick loaves of the finest flour well-kneaded and with oil mixed in. 

There are just so many sacrifices and rules in Leviticus that sometimes it all seems to run together, so when commentary compared the thank offering to “the symbol of communion based on reconciliation,” I perked up.

Leviticus 7:13 Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast. 

Symbolism, communion, and reconciliation are things I understand. Sacrificing animals and splashing their blood all over the sanctuary, thankfully, is not something I readily understand nor identify with. But removing those barriers between my actions and God’s love, I get that completely.

Leviticus 7:14 They are to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who splashes the blood of the fellowship offering against the altar. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for allowing me insight into Your word, especially when I am struggling. Thank You that You love me so much, You will stop at nothing to restore me to Your unending love. Draw me closer. Amen.

Leviticus 7:15 The meat of their fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; they must leave none of it till morning.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 7:7 “ ‘The same law applies to both the sin offering and the guilt offering: They belong to the priest who makes atonement with them. 

Commentary on today’s verses talks about an ancient Christian writer who interpreted verses 9-10 “in an excessively allegorical way” and the untold harm that interpretation did to the early church. 

Leviticus 7:8 The priest who offers a burnt offering for anyone may keep its hide for himself. 

My questions were immediate: Who gets to say an interpretation is excessively allegorical? Why would excessive allegorizing cause harm? Shouldn’t we all be reading and interpreting the scriptures for ourselves, testing them against what we know and understand, reexamining them again and again to be sure that our current interpretation is as correct as we can make it at the moment?

Leviticus 7:9-10 Every grain offering baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who offers it, and every grain offering, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.

Precious Savior, I want to read and understand Your Word. I do not want to rely on someone else’s interpretation. Help me to continue to read Your Word and test my understanding of it against what I know to be true of You. Help me draw closer daily. Amen.

Leviticus 7:11 “ ‘These are the regulations for the fellowship offering anyone may present to the Lord:

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 7:1-2 “ ‘These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy: The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be splashed against the sides of the altar. 

I am struggling with the amount of blood that is splashed around during sacrifice. It puts me in mind of horror movies, so why is the blood splashed on the altar as a way of cleaning it? And if blood is considered cleansing, why is a menstruating woman during that time considered unclean? 

Leviticus 7:3-4 All its fat shall be offered: the fat tail and the fat that covers the internal organs, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. 

Of course, a quick internet search provides answers to both questions, but it solidifies for me the fact that context matters in the Bible, that we can’t just snatch verses out of their contexts and use them to support our points. (Well, we can, and we do, but we definitely should not.) 

Leviticus 7:5 The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord. It is a guilt offering. 

Precious Savior, I sense You, again and again, calling me to love and not to judge. I can use Your word to support my views, but that is not what You call me to do. You call me to love You and love Your children, warts and all. It’s easier to use Your word as a shield, so help me, instead, to love others as You love them–deeply, fiercely, completely. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 7:6 Any male in a priest’s family may eat it, but it must be eaten in the sanctuary area; it is most holy.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 6:24-25 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the Lord in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. 

Once again I am struck by the fact that the Israelites, newly released from 400 years of captivity, need the specificity of Leviticus to understand the expectations of holy worship and atonement; however, having all these specific rules makes it dangerously easy to follow the letter of religious law to the exclusion of its heart. 

Leviticus 6:26 The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. 

Following the letter over the heart of God is a dangerous, slippery slope that no one navigates well. I can follow rules like a boss, but rules do not deal with the beating heart of humanity, and that heart, the people, I think, are what’s most important. 

Leviticus 6:27-28 Whatever touches any of the flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in the sanctuary area. The clay pot the meat is cooked in must be broken; but if it is cooked in a bronze pot, the pot is to be scoured and rinsed with water. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder that rules and expectations are important, but Your people are where Your heart lies. Help me to be Your hands and feet and heart in this world. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 6:29-30 Any male in a priest’s family may eat it; it is most holy. But any sin offering whose blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place must not be eaten; it must be burned up.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 6:19-20 The Lord also said to Moses, “This is the offering Aaron and his sons are to bring to the Lord on the day he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. 

Verse 21 and its “aroma pleasing to the Lord” has my attention this morning. I know I have written about this before, but it always brings me back to talking with my children when they were little about their “stinky attitudes” and how those attitudes were a part of life, but you didn’t want them to hang around forever. 

Leviticus 6:21 It must be prepared with oil on a griddle; bring it well-mixed and present the grain offering broken in pieces as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 

As an adult, I know that I have to keep an eye on my own stinky attitude. It happens, and when it does, the stench infects every aspect of my life. I know that it’s a part of life, but I make a conscious effort not to let it linger. Some days are easier than others.

Leviticus 6:22 The son who is to succeed him as anointed priest shall prepare it. It is the Lord’s perpetual share and is to be burned completely. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder that my daily attitude matters, that stinky attitudes are a part of life, but that I shouldn’t let them hang around and spoil the “aroma pleasing to the Lord” that is my life. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 6:23 Every grain offering of a priest shall be burned completely; it must not be eaten.”

Have a blessed day.