02/09/08: Leviticus 26
Notice that all the punishments for disobedience (26:14-46) are about triple the rewards for obedience (26:1-13). Does this mean that God is more mean and cruel than He is nice and kind? No, not at all.
It means that obedience to God brings a simple, uncomplicated, trouble-free state of contentment, satisfaction, and peace of mind: the things that people constantly claim they want but don't often have. That is because it is human nature to do things "our way" rather than "God's way," and that virtually always leads to complications, snags, and problems.
For most people, when God disciplines them, the natural reaction is resentment and a tendency to do something even worse just to "get back at God." Well, that almost always is a foolish decision, because God is in control, whether we like it or not. Getting on His bad side is not very wise.
Leviticus 26:18,21,24,28 indicate that God will punish us seven times over if we continue to disobey Him and, even worse, become hostile toward Him. Wow, that is 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 = 2,401 times the punishment we would have gotten had we just humbled ourselves and obeyed Him in the first place.
All God wanted to do was to put His dwelling place among the Israelites, walk with them, and enjoy being their God (Leviticus 26:11,12). That is all that He wants to do with us as well; we today are no different than they. But it is human nature to rebel, and the Israelites did just that--not just for forty years in the desert but for hundreds of years after they reached the Promised Land.
In subsequent books, we will see that, although the Israelites promised to obey God's decrees and demands, they did not do so. Some did, but the majority did not. As such, God drifted further and further away from them, and protected them less and less from their enemies, until Israel and Judah ultimately were taken into captivity by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
Fortunately, when Jesus returns, He will give the promised inheritance (which God guaranteed to Abraham in Genesis) to the remnant that remains. And all of the rewards for obedience (Leviticus 26:3-12) will be given, freely and lavishly by God, for 1,000 years: The Millennium.
02/08/08: Leviticus 23
Chapter 23:
Ted: Leviticus 23 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. It describes the main holy days, feasts, and festivals of the year, during which God expected certain activities and observances to be performed. The weekly Sabbath (seventh day of the week) was a regular day of cessation from weekly activities (Lev. 23:3). A few of the other days of commemoration were considered to be "special Sabbaths."
The Passover (Lev. 23:5), Feast of Unleavened Bread (23:6-8), Feast of Firstfruits (23:10-14), and Feast of Weeks (23:15-22) all took/take place in the Spring of the year. The Feast of Trumpets (23:24,25), Day of Atonement (23:27-32), and Feast of Tabernacles (23:34-43) all took/take place in the Fall of the year. All of them continue to be commemorated by Jews today.
These holy days and feasts are extremely important to Christians as well. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover, He lay in the grave during the first few nights of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He was raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits. With the latter (Firstfruits) being day #1, then day #50 was Pentecost (coinciding with the Feast of Weeks). This was when the Holy Spirit came upon many believers congregated in Jerusalem, and they all began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:1-4).
Since Jesus (and the Holy Spirit) fulfilled the four Spring holy days and feasts at His first coming, it is presumed that Jesus will fulfill the three Fall holy days and feasts at His second coming. I believe that the Rapture will occur on a Feast of Trumpets, Jesus' physical descent to earth (at the end of the 70th Week) will occur on the Day of Atonement, and the representatives from all nations will be expected to come to Jerusalem to worship Jesus on the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19).
Many more details about these seven holy days and feasts (four in the Spring and three in the Fall) can be found in Chapters 4 and 5 of my (free) online Bible overview here: Jewish Spring Festivals -- Jewish Fall Festivals
The Passover (Lev. 23:5), Feast of Unleavened Bread (23:6-8), Feast of Firstfruits (23:10-14), and Feast of Weeks (23:15-22) all took/take place in the Spring of the year. The Feast of Trumpets (23:24,25), Day of Atonement (23:27-32), and Feast of Tabernacles (23:34-43) all took/take place in the Fall of the year. All of them continue to be commemorated by Jews today.
These holy days and feasts are extremely important to Christians as well. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover, He lay in the grave during the first few nights of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He was raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits. With the latter (Firstfruits) being day #1, then day #50 was Pentecost (coinciding with the Feast of Weeks). This was when the Holy Spirit came upon many believers congregated in Jerusalem, and they all began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:1-4).
Since Jesus (and the Holy Spirit) fulfilled the four Spring holy days and feasts at His first coming, it is presumed that Jesus will fulfill the three Fall holy days and feasts at His second coming. I believe that the Rapture will occur on a Feast of Trumpets, Jesus' physical descent to earth (at the end of the 70th Week) will occur on the Day of Atonement, and the representatives from all nations will be expected to come to Jerusalem to worship Jesus on the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19).
Many more details about these seven holy days and feasts (four in the Spring and three in the Fall) can be found in Chapters 4 and 5 of my (free) online Bible overview here: Jewish Spring Festivals -- Jewish Fall Festivals
02/07/08: Leviticus
I didn't have many questions for Ted on Leviticus, because it seems pretty straightforward (and repetitive). I've chosen to put the most of our Leviticus discussion here in one post.
Ted: My overall take on Leviticus is that people, in general, are so clueless (and the Israelites were so "stiff-necked" and rebellious) that God/Moses had to repeat things OVER and OVER and OVER again to get it through their thick skulls. I know that he certainly has had to do that with me.
Leviticus 17:11,14 points out that the life of a creature is in the blood. By the fourth or fifth week of embryonic development, blood formation begins. Therefore, this is one of several indications in the Bible that abortion is wrong, since the embryo/fetus technically has "life" as soon as blood is present.
It also talks about not eating blood, but there's lots of blood in meat.
Ted: There is blood in meat; however, they were to 1) drain out as much blood as they possibly could and then 2) cook it so well that virtually no remnant of blood (at least, liquid blood) was present before it was eaten.
Ted: My overall take on Leviticus is that people, in general, are so clueless (and the Israelites were so "stiff-necked" and rebellious) that God/Moses had to repeat things OVER and OVER and OVER again to get it through their thick skulls. I know that he certainly has had to do that with me.
Leviticus 17:11,14 points out that the life of a creature is in the blood. By the fourth or fifth week of embryonic development, blood formation begins. Therefore, this is one of several indications in the Bible that abortion is wrong, since the embryo/fetus technically has "life" as soon as blood is present.
It also talks about not eating blood, but there's lots of blood in meat.
Ted: There is blood in meat; however, they were to 1) drain out as much blood as they possibly could and then 2) cook it so well that virtually no remnant of blood (at least, liquid blood) was present before it was eaten.
