Leviticus Notes #6, Part 1

Leviticus Notes #6, Part 1

I have been reading a commentary on Leviticus by L. Michael Morale, and it is a breath of fresh air. Here are some gleanings from that study.

All religions ask, “How can I get to God?” All of Scripture says, “To get to God, He needs to come to you first.” God doesn’t need us. He is complete in himself. But His joy was to create an entire universe, a world filled with life, and a place to have fellowship with His people. The goal of Creation was not just to make a world. The goal of Creation was the Sabbath day after the days of creating were completed. The day of communion had arrived!

We do not know how long that perfect communion lasted. Genesis 3 tells us that the Man and the Woman fractured that perfect relationship, sin and pride disrupted Eden, the Most Holy Place. For their own protection, God evicted the couple from the Garden of Eden, sending all humanity into exile, wandering outside home, and outside the house of God. (p. 63) The world divides into two peoples; the ones who make a name for themselves, which leads to death, and the others who call on the name of the LORD, leading to an understanding of sin’s boundaries, recognizing they stand under condemnation, requiring God’s intervention.

But God has not abandoned His people. He knows them. He claims His people with the promise to Eve; from her will come the offspring to undo all the unholiness that Adam and Eve brought into the world. God is with Seth and others who followed in his line. He is with Noah. He is intervening, just as He had planned from before the foundation of the earth, that we should be holy before him (Eph 1). After the flood (new beginnings), Abram’s call to leave Ur (new directions), revealed more promises: from Abram’s line all the nations will be blessed.

Egypt is first a human greenhouse, a place for flourishing and growing. In the end, Egypt is redemption, separating God’s people from bondage and death, preparing them for life with God. God is calling this redeemed people to show all the nations that God is the maker of heaven and earth, the One creating humanity for His ultimate purpose, opening a way for mankind to dwell in His presence.

What is required to begin the journey towards home is the blood of the Lamb. Already God has killed animals to provide skins for the first couple, and those who call on the name of the Lord, who understand sin, have been sacrificing animals since. We know that the definitive Lamb is Christ, the greater story will be Christ, and this story hints at it. But now, as Egypt faces God’s judgment, Israel’s redemption, in this time and place, depends on a more local substitutionary atonement. The lamb must be killed, its blood must be smeared on the door posts, and the people must eat the meat to make them holy, to cover them when the angel of death passes over. After the Passover, God begins to institute the feasts, to highlight who God is, and what is required of God’s people. This includes preparing the right place for God’s dwelling with His people, for the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting still to come. There are detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle; its contents, and for the priests; their clothing and their work. And there are detailed regulations on the Sabbath. (Exodus 31, 35) It is grounded in Creation, it is holy, it is the day to meet with God.

What is it to call on the name of the LORD, as unholy people in need of God’s grace and redemption? It is full of the wilderness, the sinful stumbling and grumbling, and the constant need to lean into God’s grace. God brings water out of a rock, quail and manna for food. Their shoes do not wear out as long as they remain in the wilderness. He protects them from enemies. He guides them, but God cannot come close. He is still a refiner’s fire. He appears as a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. Sinai, the mountain of the LORD, is overwhelming, frightening. There is lightning, great enveloping smoke and fire, and the mountain shakes in His presence. From here God makes a covenant with His people:

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. “(Ex 19:4-6)

God is dangerous in His holiness. Stubborn unbelief can lead to serious discipline. When Miriam and Aaron rebel against Moses’ authority, God strikes Miriam with leprosy. Aaron and Moses plead before God. He requires her to be put outside the camp for seven days as already proscribed for dealing with skin disorders. All of Israel must camp out and wait until it is safe to bring her back into the community. They do not move on until God heals her. There is healing in her repentance, but her sins will keep her out of the Promised Land. The same can be said of Aaron and Moses. She and her brothers, along with their generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, will be buried in the desert. Unbelief can lead to death. Israelites died along the journey because they did not obey and trust God. This walk home for those who call on the name of the LORD is both daunting and hopeful, frightening and encouraging. Preparation for the Tent of Meeting, the place where God will dwell with His people is still the goal.

Exodus ends on a high note. The Tabernacle is built. The priests are consecrated and properly prepared. Then it says, “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle…For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and the fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.”(Ex 40:34-35, 38) God’s story with His people is just beginning. But here is the goal at last, a holy God dwells with an unholy people, a people He calls, His “treasured possession.” And this is only a foretaste of more to come…