A Deep Dive into Scripture
Remembering our circular chart outlining the structure of Leviticus, we see that this chapter parallels Chapter 10. Both chapters provide short narratives in a sea of laws, and both serve as warnings, the former for the priests, and now here in this chapter for the people. The former centers on the defiling of sacred space, … Read more
As we see from the creation accounts, original humanity was vegetarian. Overall, Scripture is rather guarded about the idea of eating meat; it is allowed as a concession to fallen humanity after the Flood. This fact is crucial for us to understand the dietary laws in Leviticus 7 (cf. Deuteronomy 12:15-28). The taking of animal … Read more
Birthing a child in ancient Israel was considered among the highest of blessings. In fact, it was fundamental to the vision God gave to humanity, to multiply and fill the earth. God is supremely pleased with the marriage act of sexual love and the resulting conception and birth. However, given the fallen nature of our … Read more
We saw in our last post how universally dreadful the flow of blood at childbirth and menstruation was to humanity. In these two chapters, the same can be said of skin diseases of all types. In pagan cultures such afflictions were usually thought to be inflicted by demons. In Israel, as hard as it may … Read more
Unclean animals were associated with death (Chapter 11). Blood loss at childbirth, outside of the sacred context of ritual, is impure and defiles unto death (Chapter 12). Skin diseases look like death (Chapters 13-14). Here in Chapter 15 we see that genital discharges of various kinds are associated with death as well. We prefer the … Read more
Scripture is resoundingly clear: it is no easy matter for God to live in the midst of finite, sinful mortals. All we have seen up to now with the sacrificial system (Chapters 1-8), the priesthood overseeing the sacrifices (Chapters 9-10), and the purification laws designed to safeguard YHWH’s sanctuary from the pollution of death brought … Read more