“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 […]
You know the phrase “near and dear”? God’s people are dear to Him; He wants us near. But how? Clearly Leviticus 16 is a high-water mark in the Hebrew Scriptures. It describes the only day in the Jewish Year when the high priest could enter God’s sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. It was also the […]
We all need days like this, both for reassessment of the past and realignment for the future. Leviticus 11-15 have been filled with minutiae, details that are sometimes hard to understand and certainly hard to discuss. But chapter 16, describing the Great Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, the most solemn day in the Jewish […]