21 & 22 Leviticus
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21 & 22 Leviticus (some notes copied from Lunsford, J. (2006). Leviticus 101)
To the Priest – Primary theme continues – Be Holy! Be Pure! Watch for some extremely hard sayings.
Bread of thy God is mentioned several times.
Leviticus 21:1-9
Regulations for Priest
V.1-5 – the context is in regard to religious “mourning” rituals (not morning)
· V.1-3 Don’t touch a dead body = unclean
o Maintaining a proper relationship with God was most important
· V.5-6 Don’t mourn like pagan nations – all these verse speak regarding pagan worship practices.
o Don’t cut your hair, your beard, or your flesh. Hair we seen as having a life force, much like blood, because it grew – it was alive.
§ 1 Corinthians 11 – if you want to go there and Heiser’s explanation of the hair being in regard to the reproductive system.
o Pagans believe the more you mourned outwardly the more their god would show mercy
· V.7-8 Concerning marriage
o Don’t marry a divorced woman or a harlot
· V.9 If the daughter of the priest becomes a prostitute.
o Leviticus 19:26-29 Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. 27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. 28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. 29 Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
o What we are dealing with here in Leviticus 21:1-9 and in 19 is Temple Prostitution.
§ All these things a pagan / idolatrous practices.
§ Don’t worship as the pagans do – “Be ye holy”
o Kill her and burn her body
o The sins of the child reflect on the priest – even today people love to talk about PK’s
· Jeremiah 16:6-7 reveals to us that these were indeed pagan practices. “Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: 7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
o These were mourning practice, including the act of tattooing for the dead.
o The context is religious rituals and loyalty to YHWH
Leviticus 21:10-15
The High Priest – he has been consecrated unto God – Set apart and anointed. While the rule seems to be the same, they are amped up in that they are repeated in regard to his anointing and consecration. The High Priest prefigures the work of Christ; thus, a greater degree of purity is expected.
Leviticus 21:16-24
21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
Again, we need to look at these things through the Christians eyes, that is through New Testament eyes. The picture here is that a blemished man is not acceptable in the eyes of GOD to enter into His presence. READ Romans 3. We are a blemished people.
Leviticus 22 – more Priestly regulations
V.1-3 express the seriousness of God - 3 Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD.
V.4-5 state that any priest who contracts leprosy or gonorrhea are forbidden to eat or touch the holy things of God. Reasons for this prohibition have already been noted.
V.6-7 describe the steps a priest is to take in becoming ceremonially pure again.
V.8-9 once again remind the priest what is permissible to eat and what is not. Verse nine reconfirms God’s reasoning once again.
V.10-16 describe who is allowed to eat the food offered in a sacrifice and who is not.
There is a verse in chapter 22 I’d like to revisit - 11 But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat.
Did we not recently preach on the subject of Christ purchasing us in the parable of the Pearl of Great Price? We have been purchased not with silver or gold, but by the blood of the Lamb of God. “…ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
The Bible is clear, none are righteous, and all have sinned, thus all are blemished, and yet Jesus…
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. The blemished is made whole.
Luke 7:22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
The message of God is one of whosoever – John 3:16 & Revelation 22:17 come to mind.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Your state of holiness was lost, your state of perfection was lot, (among other things).
1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Be ye holy…