I have been trying to discern the best way of (at least generally) explaining the chapters of Leviticus (for right now, chapters 11-15) that are so loaded with minute, precise laws and regulations pertaining to the “clean” and “unclean” dichotomy God so demands. Due to His Very nature, I might add, His Perfect Nature, Essence!
Maybe this “word picture” will help explain. All these stipulations (five Leviticus chapters) center around the “LIFE/death” contrast. God is Life! (Everlastingly and Abundantly) And conversely, sin is/brings death!
Picture Israel’s history of old. Her God-prescribed method of worship. The Tabernacle, from the front gate all the way to the Holy of Holies … must be considered as the place of God’s Residence/Abode on earth. Therein dwells life, Life. Thus the priest officiating within it confines must be pure, holy, alive (even whole, healthy) it seems!
And the further away from that Tabernacle one travels/goes/drifts … the closer he gets to death, the absence of the Presence of God. Impurity, uncleanness, and as I said, subsequent death. (Think of the wild, howling “wilderness” … as far from the Tabernacle as you can get. Death, loneliness, rejection!)
So … Israel (Leviticus chapter 11, for today our example) can only eat foods that represent life! So that the Jews can approach God in a clean, whole manner. Sheep, again merely as one example, are vegetarians. (Not a single plant was forbidden Israel to eat, or called unlcean!) Thus, they (the little lambs) were allowed as a “legal” food for the people of Israel. They not in any way being symbols of death/uncleanness! But a host of other animals (especially those who eat carrion, filth, blood) are not “legal” foods! Because they, in contradistinction, represent death, “eat death,” truth be told!
Even fish that were irregular (having no scales, for example) were forbidden … because they were not normal, not reeking of life but (perhaps) something less! And shrimp (eating the “filth” on the bottom of the sea) … a diet hinting at death for sure … forbidden!
Or if you want to delve further into chapters 11-15, the loss of bodily fluids (menstruation, childbirth, sexual intercourse) was considered to make one unclean, because of the loss of LIFE LIQUIDS involved!
That Priest (mentioned earlier in today’s Lesson) working inside the Tabernacle had to be so clean, whole, that even if he had a “flat nose” or was “blind” or “lame” … was disqualified from serving God! “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.” Leviticus 21:18
The issue here? Life qualities versus abnormalities, versusdeath qualities!
Even the tons of blood shed at the door of the Tabernacle … symbolized LIFE every bit as much as death! (“For the LIFE of the flesh is in the BLOOD.” Leviticus 17:11)
More tomorrow, the Lord willing.
But perhaps this view will not prove to be an oversimplification of the Laws of Leviticus 11-15, but one way of seeing the overall picture.
God told Israel long ago … “See, I have set before thee this day LIFE and good, and DEATH and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest LIVE and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you LIFE and DEATH, blessing and cursing: therefore choose LIFE, that both thou and thy seed may LIVE: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy LIFE, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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