I became more upset as I realized that Leviticus seems to primarily focus on the physical being and on behaviors. The head and heart have not been invoked in God's list of rules. It's been a lot about how to act and to do right. This hits a raw nerve with me and feels like it's against everything that I've fought against in my church-raised flesh: just do the right thing and that's what really matters.
I went back to God, trying to discern His purposes in this seemingly rigid, legalistic book of Leviticus. I know that in Deuteronomy, the whole being will be addressed, "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (6:5) But, what about right now in Leviticus? I went back to my notes from Eugene Peterson on the five Books of Moses:
"An image of human growth...Genesis is Conception...Exodus is Birth and Infancy...Leviticus is Schooling...Numbers is Adolescence...Deuteronomy is Adulthood."Leviticus is schooling, "structure and arrangement to keep things straight: reading, writing, arithmetic." I have three girls in three levels of school. I get school - I live it, breathe it, drive to it, volunteer at it, wrap my schedule around it. Before the girls started kindergarten, I taught them the alphabet and some of those letters eventually turned into their names and then into the ability to decode basic readers. The other day, my youngest (9) was explaining grammar, parts of speech, and literary devices she's learning. She's writing basic stories with a beginning, middle and end. But, it's still somewhat mechanical. She's learning the rules, the foundation, but she's only beginning to learn the beauty of the written word; how words can give life (Ps. 119:50) or can destroy (James 3:5-10). Her whole being - heart, soul and strength - is not yet invoked in the process of writing. But, it's coming.
That's where the Israelites are in Leviticus - learning the ABCs of their unholiness and how to relate to a holy God. It's all basic instruction; a sure and clear foundation. They must go through this before they can move to the next stage of growth. The teaching must be concise, clear and repetitive - just like when we are teaching our kids the alphabet: the same 26 letters everyday, over and over, written, sung, watched on Sesame Street, practiced on Big Chief tablets.
But, where does that leave me in the offense I've taken up against God's use of the word "defective" applied to human beings? I go back and look at the boundaries that God put on these physically disabled descendants: may not present an offering of food to God; may not go near the curtain or approach the Altar; may eat the food of his God, both the most holy and the holy. Not prevented from partaking of the offering; not prevented from relating to God; prevented from being a representation of the Holy Priest, Christ, who makes atonement for us. There must be no exceptions, no unclear teaching, no confusing examples. Pure. Holy. Unblemished. Undefiled. No defect.
4 comments:
"Leviticus is schooling" really hit home with me. Thank you, Staci, for going into that explanation. I, too, am feeling distressed and overwhelmed by Leviticus, even with the beautiful scapegoat imagery (perhaps one of the few beautiful images in a book of emissions and oozing sores and off-limits sexual partners) which Cici explained yesterday.
Sigh. Three more days of "Levitical school" before moving into adolescence with Numbers. But I'd really rather skip ahead to adulthood's maturity.
I wonder where God would "rate" my spiritual development in this scale? Perhaps not as highly as I, in my fierce pride, would rate myself.
No doubt it's an indication of my own lack of maturity, but I was chuckling to myself as I was reading this morning. "Really, God? THIS is what you choose to talk about in your Holy Word - who not to have sex with???"
Yes, I know these rules are important, but the detail He goes into and the repetition seems weird to me. So I appreciated your comments, Staci, about this being schooling. Definitely puts it in a better perspective for me.
One thing I noticed in chapter 19 - the number of times He says "I am God" or "I am God, your God" as He's giving the rules. 15! Over and over and over again.
A reminder that the Israelites are to obey the rules whether they fully understand them or not. The best reason is that God said it, and they are to be holy as God is holy.
That's a great reminder for me too. I don't need to forgive because I feel like it. I need to forgive because God told me to, and I am to be holy as God is holy.
And Sarah, I hear what you're saying. This schooling is getting tedious, and I'm ready for the "good stuff." But I know that if I don't have the basics of God's holiness as a solid foundation, the maturity part isn't going to be very rich. As you know, we see so much of Leviticus - or should I say, violations of the rules in Leviticus - in the rest of the Old and New Testaments. Leviticus makes the rest of the Bible make more sense to me since I have a better understanding of God's expectations.
Rules. Rules. Rules.
School. School. School.
There are 613 commands in the OT to follow. Tedious stuff about, well you see...248 positive rules/ 365 negative rules---tnat's a negative one for every day of a Pharisee's life in a year. Do I tremble before His Holiness or am I still trying to figure out how to improve what ails me? He is Holy and I am not! Oh but what an honor to be made alive with women like Staci & Cici who revolve their world around First Things...Put first things first and we get second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things (C.S. Lewis).
Thanks Staci! I also have a sibling with special needs and I was also surprised reading the last verses. Your last comment helped me to understand. I've been loving this blog. Thanks for all of the hard work that you and Cici put into it! :-)
Post a Comment