This chapter provided a whole array of ways to practically live out what it means to be holy. When I read Leviticus 19, it reminds me of a caring mother giving final instructions to her child before he heads to summer camp, or a thoughtful father warning his daughter going off to college. There are […]
Contrary to the notion that sin is pleasure, it distances us from God and His true abiding joy. When the human race was in its infancy, obviously it was necessary for the first families to intermarry. But as the population grew, God placed restrictions on this. Today we know that inter-family marriage is unhealthy. But […]
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9). We need a heart transplant! You’ve heard the phrase, “from the frying pan into the fire.” That was the situation with the children of Israel, as described at the beginning of Leviticus 18. “According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where […]
Safety rules require lots of repetition. God never tires of telling His people about the blood. The latter half of Leviticus 17 (vv 8-16) underlines again the importance of Israelites not eating blood. The explanation goes like this: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you […]
“He causes the grass to grow for the cattle…that he may bring forth food from the earth” (Ps 104:14). It’s evident that the Israelites, on their desert journey, rarely killed their livestock for meat. We know this because, after receiving manna from heaven, the people complained they had no meat to eat, and the Lord […]
One cannot imagine a place abandoned by God. Yet that is Calvary. And that is hell. When speaking of some desolate location on earth, people will describe it as a “God-forsaken place.” But David explained that, in reality, no such place exists. He asked: “Where can I flee from Your presence?…If I take the wings […]
The Hebrew word azazel means “to be completely put aside.” But what does it mean to you? We have seen before the idea of two animals forming one picture. Two birds were taken in Leviticus 14 when a leper had been cleansed. There the one bird died and the second bird flew away with the […]
On this most important day in the Jewish year, the high priest was to dress down for the occasion. Those of us who are at least a little familiar with the New Testament know “that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (Heb 4:14). That […]