Untainted Offerings/Sacrifices

Leviticus 22:18 Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering; 19 Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.   20 But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.

This reading came shortly after the issue about the Blessingway party and reverberated with me.

Blemish:

H8549 - From H8552; entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth.

·         H8552 - A primitive root; to complete, in a good or a bad sense, literally or figuratively, transitively or intransitively.

Any offering we make/give unto God should be without blemish.  Dwell on that for a moment.  Roll it around on your ‘mental tongue’ – do you ‘feel’ the fibers, ‘taste’ the nectar?

So, what are we ‘offering’ unto God believing (or rather deceiving ourselves) to think it’s holy.  Which makes me ponder on previous posts such as these:

Day 315 – Do we care about the origins of what we’re participating in?

And because there is a ‘holiday’ upon us, here are a few more for perusal, prayer and, hopefully shucking of bad theological practices.

The Fallacy of Good Friday – where is this ‘practice’ given for us to follow as a ‘holy day’?

Jesus Wasn’t Crucified on Friday or Resurrected on Sunday

So saints, whatever we’re ‘offering’ to God, is it without blemish?

According to HIS standards?  Father, help each of us to examine our lives, to see what we are doing, participating in, to desire to offer unto You all of our time, being, resources as unblemished as possible.

Leviticus 26-27

26:19 heaven iron, earth brass?

Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass (H5154): 

Searching for heaven and iron...we get:

Deu_28:23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass (H5178), and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

Iron - H1270 - Perhaps from the root of H1269; iron (as cutting); by extension an iron implement.

Brass:

H5154 - Feminine of H5153; copper.

H5178 - For H5154; copper; hence, something made of that metal, that is, coin, a fetter; figuratively base (as compared with gold or silver).

Keil and Delitzsch Commentary:  "First stage of the aggravated judgments. - If they did not hearken אֵלֶּה עַד, “up to these” (the punishments named in Lev_26:16, Lev_26:17), that is to say, if they persisted in their disobedience even when the judgments reached to this height, God would add a sevenfold chastisement on account of their sins, would punish them seven times more severely, and break down their strong pride by fearful drought. Seven, as the number of perfection in the works of God, denotes the strengthening of the chastisement, even to the height of its full measure (cf. Pro_24:16). עֹז גְּאֹון, lit., the eminence or pride of strength, includes everything upon which a nation rests its might; then the pride and haughtiness which rely upon earthly might and its auxiliaries (Eze_30:6, Eze_30:18; Eze_33:28); here it signifies the pride of a nation, puffed up by the fruitfulness and rich produce of its land. God would make their heaven (the sky of their land) like iron and their earth like brass, i.e., as hard and dry as metal, so that not a drop of rain and dew would fall from heaven to moisten the earth, and not a plant could grow out of the earth (cf. Deu_28:23); and when the land was cultivated, the people would exhaust their strength for nought."

Fifty - Leviticus 24-25

This particular number is interesting to me because.....I'm 50!!!

Lev 25:10  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Fifty means?

H2572 - Multiple of H2568; fifty.

• H2568 - A primitive numeral; five.

G4004 - Multiplicative of G4002; fifty.

• G4002 - A primary number; “five".

Not much difference between the Hebrew and the Greek.

Used where in Scripture?  Heh, the word 'fifty' is used 157 times in 138 verses.

The first usage is in Genesis 6:15, regarding the ark:

Gen 6:15  And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

I had heard certain trees or plants didn't 'bear' until they were fifty, when I went looking I came across a site BA50 - Better After Fifty...specifically my search words blooming after 50 and this article came up:  Love Blooms When You Take a Chance

What I was really looking for was this: How Long Does A New Palm Tree Take to Bloom

As a newly single mom, I'd attended some retreats hosted by Palm Tree Single Moms.  The founder had mentioned some palms take 50 years to bloom and it stayed with me.  Our society loves to champion youth, youthful looks, body, face, etc.

If you're not slim, trim and taunt, well, what worth are you?  Each season of life has positives and negatives.  Why aren't those who are older, learned, experienced seen as such?  Off with the old, on with the new.

Before the proclamation of the fifteth year, we have the trumpet of the jubile:

Lev 25:9  Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

Jubile - H8643 - From H7321; clamor, that is, acclamation of joy or a battle cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an alarum.

Alarum?  Archaic term for alarm.  I wonder if that's a valid scrabble word?

H8643 - Used 36 times in 33 verses.

Leviticus 19-21

Lev 19:28  Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. 

19:28 cuttings or print marks

Is that tattoos?

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary:  "nor print any marks upon you — by tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It is probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden, for they were signs of apostasy; and, when once made, they were insuperable obstacles to a return. (See allusions to the practice, Isa_44:5; Rev_13:17; Rev_14:1)."

There is nothing new under the sun...people have been 'tattooing' or 'branding' for quite some time.

Lev 21:5  They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 

Cuttings on flesh 21:5 is this same or different to print marks? Tattoo uses a needle, isn't this a form of cutting?

There seems to be an increase in the number of tattoos - people mutilating their bodies for 'art'.

I'm sometimes amazed at how many/much folks 'wear'.  Is all that ink really good for your body?  Is this some type of masochism?

Jamison, Fausset and Brown Commentary:  "They shall not make baldness upon their heads ... nor ... cuttings in their flesh — The superstitious marks of sorrow, as well as the violent excesses in which the heathen indulged at the death of their friends, were forbidden by a general law to the Hebrew people (Lev_19:28). But the priests were to be laid under a special injunction, not only that they might exhibit examples of piety in the moderation of their grief, but also by the restraint of their passions, be the better qualified to administer the consolations of religion to others, and show, by their faith in a blessed resurrection, the reasons for sorrowing not as those who have no hope."

So how much different do we, 'priests' of the Most High God look and act from those of the world?

Leviticus 14-15

Lev_14:10  And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

Log of oil - how do you make a log of oil? Olive oil doesn't solidify, does it?

Gill's commentary:  and one log of oil; to be used as after directed: this measure was about half a pint, and is an emblem of the grace and Spirit of God, received by the saints in measure, and is the same with the oil of gladness, poured on Christ without measure, Psa_45:7.

Heh, when I read 'log' I took it literally.  When in reality it's just a unit of measurement.

While out searching I came across this site: Jewish Virtual Library, found this interesting:

"Oil was regarded as a symbol of honor (Judg. 9:9), joy (Ps. 45:8), and favor (Deut. 33:24; Ps. 23:5). Therefore, oil was to be withheld from offerings associated with disgrace, sorrow, and disfavor, just as it was withheld from the body in time of mourning (II Sam. 12:20; Dan. 10:3; see *Mourning)."

14:42 the priest takes morter and plaisters the house. First mention of home repair man. He assessed the problem, then institutes the resolution.

Leviticus 8-10

8:6 Moses washed Aaron. Obviously not a full body wash. Cross reference to Hebrews 10:22

Lev 8:6  And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.

Lev 10:2-4 And there went out fire from the Lord , and devoured them, and they died before the Lord . And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.

IF Fire CONSUMED THEM What Was Left To carry? Ashes?

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Is that our physical bodies?  Spiritual bodies because Jesus is the water of life?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:

Hebrews 10:19-25

The apostle having closed the first part of the epistle, the doctrine is applied to practical purposes. As believers had an open way to the presence of God, it became them to use this privilege. The way and means by which Christians enjoy such privileges, is by the blood of Jesus, by the merit of that blood which he offered up as an atoning sacrifice. The agreement of infinite holiness with pardoning mercy, was not clearly understood till the human nature of Christ, the Son of God, was wounded and bruised for our sins. Our way to heaven is by a crucified Saviour; his death is to us the way of life, and to those who believe this, he will be precious. They must draw near to God; it would be contempt of Christ, still to keep at a distance. Their bodies were to be washed with pure water, alluding to the cleansings directed under the law: thus the use of water in baptism, was to remind Christians that their conduct should be pure and holy. While they derived comfort and grace from their reconciled Father to their own souls, they would adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. Believers are to consider how they can be of service to each other, especially stirring up each other to the more vigorous and abundant exercise of love, and the practice of good works. The communion of saints is a great help and privilege, and a means of stedfastness and perseverance. We should observe the coming of times of trial, and be thereby quickened to greater diligence. There is a trying day coming on all men, the day of our death.

Lessons from Leviticus

I was originally going to title this post Lumbering Through Leviticus; however, after cursory review of lumbering (clumsy and awkward and some of it synonyms: hulking, inept and maladroit) I decided another title was in order.  :-)

Why lumbering anyway?  Well, that's how I felt mentally.  Leviticus is one of those books that I sometimes have to 'knuckle' through.  Kings and Chronicles sometimes have the same effect on me.  And its not the books, its me.

I'll be reading along and catch myself 'reading' and mentally I've checked out, I'm off making lists or working on something else.  *sigh* So stop, go back to where I 'exited' and start re-reading.  Again!

The odd thing is, even if I chose to read aloud, I can still do the same thing - go into the 'zone' of performing the function without allowing the Word to wash me.

Having to retrace my steps has actually resulted in some interesting discoveries and ponderables.

Estimation (Lev 27:2-8), I was intrigued by the different amounts each gender/age was valued.  So how much was each person worth?

	Men	Women
20-60	50	30
5-20	20	10
0-5	5	3
60 & up	15	10

That's in shekels - silver too - approximately $128 per shekel.

As I began writing this the thought occurred, what does estimation mean?

H6187 - From H6186; a pile, equipment, estimate.

• H6186 - A primitive root; to set in a row, that is, arrange, put in order (in a very wide variety of applications).

And what does a singular vow mean?

This appears to be something quite different from other offerings and vows.  I checked several commentaries - this one by Jamieson, Fausett and Brown seemed the most concise and easily understood.

When a man shall make a singular vow, etc. — Persons have, at all times and in all places, been accustomed to present votive offerings, either from gratitude for benefits received, or in the event of deliverance from apprehended evil. And Moses was empowered, by divine authority, to prescribe the conditions of this voluntary duty.

the persons shall be for the Lord, etc. — better rendered thus: - “According to thy estimation, the persons shall be for the Lord.” Persons might consecrate themselves or their children to the divine service, in some inferior or servile kind of work about the sanctuary (1Sa_3:1). In the event of any change, the persons so devoted had the privilege in their power of redeeming themselves; and this chapter specifies the amount of the redemption money, which the priest had the discretionary power of reducing, as circumstances might seem to require. Those of mature age, between twenty and sixty, being capable of the greatest service, were rated highest; young people, from five till twenty, less, because not so serviceable; infants, though devotable by their parents before birth (1Sa_1:11), could not be offered nor redeemed till a month after birth; old people were valued below the young, but above children; and the poor - in no case freed from payment, in order to prevent the rash formation of vows - were rated according to their means.

There is one ponderable I had as I completed my journey through Leviticus.  I've a couple more that 'popped out' but those will have to wait for another post.

Don't get discouraged if you're having a hard time staying focused while reading the Word.  Even the difficult passages, or parts that may not appear as interesting.  God has each and every word recorded for our benefit.