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Leviticus 15:1-16:28
(1) 15:31 is underlined in my bible:
" 'You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, [a] which is among them.'I took a chance & surprised myself by using this verse for tonight's family devotion. My 3 yr old daughter was somewhat intrigued. We discussed:
(a) separateness
(b) cleanliness
(c) God's dwelling place
Separateness in regard to holiness; for special use the way eating utensils wouldn't be used as tools to fix cars or dig in dirt. Cleanliness compared with dirtiness and how a dirty knife or spoon couldn't be used for eating. And finally how God's Spirit dwells inside us to teach & convict us of sin and disobedience.
I'm thinking I can build on this kernel in coming weeks: dirtying ourselves defiles the place where God dwells through his Holy Spirit.
(2) I thought Henry's commentary interesting:
And what duty must we learn from all this? 1. Let us bless God that we are not under the yoke of these carnal ordinances, that, as nothing can destroy us, so nothing can defile us, but sin. Those may now partake of the Lord's supper who durst not then eat of the peace-offerings. And the defilement we contract by our sins of daily infirmity we may be cleansed from in secret by the renewed acts of repentance and faith, without bathing in water or bringing an offering to the door of the tabernacle. 2. Let us carefully abstain from all sin, as defiling to the conscience, and particularly from all fleshly lusts, possessing our vessel in sanctification and honour, and not in the lusts of uncleanness, which not only pollute the soul, but war against it, and threaten its ruin. 3. Let us all see how indispensably necessary real holiness is to our future happiness, and get our hearts purified by faith, that we may see God. Perhaps it is in allusion to these laws which forbade the unclean to approach the sanctuary that when it is asked, Who shall stand in God's holy place? it is answered, He that hath clean hands and a pure heart (Ps. 24:3, 4); for without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
(3) Somehow Henry pales in comparison to Mark 7 which deals precisely with the clean and unclean(see below)
(4)(2011) "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household." - no direct personal participation by household members was required.
(5) (2011) The Scapegoat (One of these goats must be slain, in token of a satisfaction to be made to God's justice for sin, the other must be sent away, in token of the remission or dismission of sin by the mercy of God.- Henry):
"Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat.[d] 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat."(6) (2011) Henry comments on natural uncleanliness (or uncleanliness inflicted by natural involuntary causes) compared to voluntary acts of uncleanliness:
They were also taught their duty, which was to preserve the honour of their purity, and to keep themselves from all sinful pollutions. It was easy for them to argue that if those pollutions which were natural, unavoidable, involuntary, their affliction and not their sin, rendered them for the time so odious that they were not fit for communion either with God or man, much more abominable and filthy were they if they sinned against the light and law of nature, by drunkenness, adultery, fraud, and the like sins, which defile the very mind and conscience. And, if these ceremonial pollutions could not be done away but by sacrifice and offering, something greater and much more valuable must be expected and depended upon for the purifying of the soul from the uncleanness of sin.(7) (2011) Our duty (Henry comments):And what duty must we learn from all this? 1. Let us bless God that we are not under the yoke of these carnal ordinances, that, as nothing can destroy us, so nothing can defile us, but sin. Those may now partake of the Lord's supper who durst not then eat of the peace-offerings. And the defilement we contract by our sins of daily infirmity we may be cleansed from in secret by the renewed acts of repentance and faith, without bathing in water or bringing an offering to the door of the tabernacle. 2. Let us carefully abstain from all sin, as defiling to the conscience, and particularly from all fleshly lusts, possessing our vessel in sanctification and honour, and not in the lusts of uncleanness, which not only pollute the soul, but war against it, and threaten its ruin. 3. Let us all see how indispensably necessary real holiness is to our future happiness, and get our hearts purified by faith, that we may see God. Perhaps it is in allusion to these laws which forbade the unclean to approach the sanctuary that when it is asked, Who shall stand in God's holy place? it is answered, He that hath clean hands and a pure heart (Ps. 24:3, 4); for without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
Mark 7:1-23
(1) Tell me this synchronization is random! Just when Leviticus 15 addresses cleanliness which defiles the dwelling place of God comes this from 7:14,
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "When pressed to explain it, Jesus said,
Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "
(2) Therefore what if the Church included in her calendar days in which we reflect on & confess our:
(a) evil thoughts
(b) sexual immorality
(c) thievery (wanting something for nothing)
(d) murder
(e) adultery
(f) greed
(g) malice
(h) deceit
(i) lewdness
(j) envy
(k) slander
(l) arrogance
(m) folly
Perhaps a day of 12 hours beginning each hour with a time of reflection on (b) through (m) in light of The Sermon on the Mount (e.g. murder and adultery start in the heart when we call our brother a "fool" (cf Mt 5:22) or lust in our heart(cf Mt 5:27, 28))
Psalm 40:11-17
Proverbs 10:13-14
Years Read
2009, 2011
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