One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Thursday, February 24th
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Click Here to Read Leviticus 15:1-16:28
God continues to give Moses and Aaron instructions on how to remove that which was unclean from the people. Today the instructions pertain to bodily discharges from men, and the flow of blood from women during menstruation. Again one might ask why the bible is addressing such issues.
"None of these discharges made a man or a woman sinful, only ceremonially unclean. Normal discharges of semen and menstruation made one ceremonially unclean, not because there was anything inherently wrong with them, but because the two are connected with symbols of redemption and life, blood and semen." (Guzik)
"It is important for us to regard these laws of cleanliness from a New Testament perspective. In Mark 7:1-9 Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their over-emphasis on ceremonial cleanliness and their lack of regard for internal cleanliness. These laws were meant to have both hygienic benefits and spiritual applications; they were never intended as the way to be right with God."
In chapter 16, we get to the heart the worship life of the Israelites, the Day of Atonement. Once a year the high priests would enter into the holies of holies and experience the presence of God and make atonement for the sins of the people.
"The day was the most solemn of all the Old Testament rituals. So significant was it that in later Jewish tradition it came to be called just that, ‘The Day’ (Yoma).” (Rooker)
There were many instructions God gave Aaron to execute fully. We saw a few chapters ago what happened to his sons Nadab and Abihu when the offered unauthorized fire in the censer. They died.
1. "On the Day of Atonement, Aaron started with the blood of a young bull to atone for his own sin and the sin of his house." Guzik
2. One of the interesting aspects of this day were that two different goats were presented. One was for the sacrifice to God. And another goat called, "the scapegoat", was released into the wilderness.
"The scapegoat was literally the “escape goat.” It escaped death and went into the wilderness." (Guzik)
3. Another interesting aspect of the Day of Atonement was when the priest would lay his hands on the scapegoat representing the transfer of all the sins and iniquities of the people onto the head of the goat. Then when the goat was released into the wilderness, it symbolized that all of their sins were carried away into the place of desolation.
“The picture of the goat going away, and away, and away, a lessening speck on the horizon, and never heard of more is the divine symbol of the great fact that there is full, free, everlasting forgiveness, and on God’s part, utter forgetfulness. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.’ ‘I will remember them no more at all for ever.’” (Maclaren)
Isn't it interesting that today Jesus' conflict with the Pharisees was about a ritual of washing one's hands before they ate. This relates to all of the laws we have been seeing in the Leviticus the last couple of days. Though God did command the priests to wash their hands in the Law, there was no specific application of washing hands when the men eating everyday, ordinary meals.
This fatal flaw in their leadership drew a strong rebuke from Jesus. The leaders had added many human rituals to God's law. God's law was challenging enough, but they added their own weight to the burden of it and did nothing to help the people carry it.
"These washings were commanded by tradition, not by Scripture. The religious leaders knew this, yet they still criticized the disciples for not obeying these traditions." Guzik
At the center of his rebuke is the gross hypocrisy of the leaders, which caused them to miss the heart of worship, a relationship with God. This was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Isaiah 29:13
Oh that God would never say that about us. It is a grave reminder for us to think about the words we say, and not just recite them by rote. Even as we say a common prayer like the Lord's Prayer, we can meditate on each phrase as we say it. It can have meaning every time, just like when we say, "I love you". It can be an empty muttering of words, or an ongoing expression of our love for the ones we love.
Then Jesus says something very important in regard to what made a man truly clean or unclean.
"Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.“It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:18-23
"The fundamental principle is simple. Eating with unclean hands or any other such thing that we put into us is not defiling. Rather, what comes out of us defiles and reveals that we have unclean (defiled) hearts." (Guzik)
“Although it may not seem so now, this passage, when it was first spoken, was well-nigh the most revolutionary passage in the New Testament.” (Barclay)
"What Now" Study Questions:
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for allowing the traditions of men to overshadow the laws of God. What traditions or practices do you have that are not grounded in God's Word?
Christ declared that all foods were clean and lifted some of the prohibitions in the Old Testament that we have read recently. It also reveals that God is more concerned with internal transformation that with external rituals.
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