Month: December 2025

Leviticus 6

Leviticus 6

Leviticus 6:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 6:2 “If any throat fails and commits an act of betrayal against Yahveh by deceiving his associate in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has exploited his associate

Leviticus 6:3 or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely — in any of all the things that a human does and fails thereby —

Leviticus 6:4 if he has failed and has realized his offence and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by exploitation or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found

Leviticus 6:5 or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he will restore it in full and will add a fifth to it and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his need for reparation.

Leviticus 6:6 And he will bring to the priest as his reparation to Yahveh a perfect ram out of the flock, or its equivalent for a reparation offering.

Leviticus 6:7 And the priest will provide reconciliation for him to Yahveh’s face, and he will be forgiven for any of the things that he may do and thereby bringing the need for reparation upon himself.”

Leviticus 6:8 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 6:9 “Command Aaron and his sons, and this is what you should say, this is the instruction[1] about the ascending offering. The ascending offering will be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar will be kept burning on it.

Leviticus 6:10 And the priest will put on his linen uniform and put his linen undergarment over his skin, and he will take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the ascending offering on the altar and put them beside the altar.

Leviticus 6:11 Then he will take off his clothes and put on other clothes and carry the ashes outside the camp to a pure place.

Leviticus 6:12 The fire on the altar will be kept burning on it; it will not go out. The priest will burn wood on it every morning, and he will arrange the ascending offering on it and will burn on it the fat of the offerings for healthy relationships.

Leviticus 6:13 Fire will be kept burning on the altar continually;[2] it will not go out.

Leviticus 6:14 “And this is the instruction of the tribute offering. The sons of Aaron will offer it to Yahveh’s face in the face of the altar.

Leviticus 6:15 And one will take from it a handful of the fine flour of the tribute offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the tribute offering and burn this as its reminiscence on the altar, a pacifying aroma to Yahveh.

Leviticus 6:16 And the rest of it Aaron and his sons will eat. It will be eaten unleavened in a sacred place. In the court of the conference tent, they will eat it.

Leviticus 6:17 It will not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my fire offerings. It is a thing most sacred, like the failure offering and the reparation offering.

Leviticus 6:18 Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as a permanent prescription throughout your generations, from Yahveh’s fire offerings. Whatever touches them will become sacred.”

Leviticus 6:19 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 6:20 “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons will offer to Yahveh on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a continual tribute offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening.

Leviticus 6:21 It will be made with oil on a griddle. You will bring it well mixed, in baked pieces like a tribute offering, and offer it for a pacifying aroma to Yahveh.

Leviticus 6:22 The priest from among Aaron’s sons, who is anointed to succeed him, will offer it to Yahveh as a permanent prescription. The whole of it will be burned.

Leviticus 6:23 Every tribute offering of a priest will be wholly burned. It will not be eaten.”

Leviticus 6:24 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 6:25 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, and this is what you should say, this is the instruction of the failure offering. In the place where the ascending offering is killed will the failure offering be killed to Yahveh’s face; it is most sacred.

Leviticus 6:26 The priest who offers it for a failure will eat it. In a sacred place it will be eaten, in the court of the conference tent.

Leviticus 6:27 Anyone who touches its meat must be sacred, and when any of its blood is splashed on clothing, you will wash that on which it was splashed in a sacred place.

Leviticus 6:28 And the clay pottery container in which it is boiled will be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze container, that will be scoured and rinsed in water.

Leviticus 6:29 Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most sacred.

Leviticus 6:30 But no failure offering will be eaten from which any blood is brought into the conference tent to provide reconciliation in the Sacred Place; it will be burned up with fire.

[1] תּוֹרָה= instruction. Leviticus 6:9, 14, 25; 7:1, 7, 11, 37; 11:46; 12:7; 13:59; 14:2, 32, 54, 57; 15:32; 26:46.

[2] תָּמִיד  = continual(ly). Leviticus 6:13, 20; 24:2, 3, 4, 8.

Leviticus 6 quotes:

“As a part of the ritual, Aaron pronounces a priestly blessing on the people (see Numbers 6:22-27). Then he and Moses enter the Most Holy Place in the tent of meeting, the place reserved for the high priest alone. Upon their return, the glory of the Lord appears to all the people, as Moses has promised. It takes the form of fire, kindling the perpetual fire on the altar (Leviticus 6:9-13).

Schoville, Keith N. Exodus and Leviticus. Graded Press, 1988. p. 109.

“When one compares the order of sacrifices in Leviticus 1-5 with the order in Leviticus 6-7 one immediately notices a difference. In these latter chapters the regular daily sacrifices, the burnt offering and the accompanying grain offering, are listed first. These are followed by the sin offering which was required only at certain festivals or after someone had sinned. Next mentioned is the guilt offering which was not offered on a regular basis but was necessary following certain sins. Finally the fellowship offering, generally an optional sacrifice, is discussed. Thus it appears that in Leviticus 6 and 7 the sacrifices are arranged in the order of the frequency of their use.”

Lenz, Mark J. Leviticus. Northwestern Pub. House, 1988. p. 56.

“Now that the tabernacle was there among the people, sacrifices had to be instituted to provide access to the presence of God and to remove the defilements arising from Israel’s sin (Leviticus 1-5). Priests had to be given instructions on their role in presenting the sacrifices (Leviticus 6-7).”

Poythress, Vern S. The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses. P & R Pub., 1991. p. 42.

Leviticus 6 links:

ACST 50- The Sacrifice
after the blood
anointed devotion
he wants to love through us
his alone
prayer twenty-four-seven
representing his holiness

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, April 4, 2023

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

Leviticus 5

Leviticus 5

Leviticus 5:1 “If any throat fails by hearing a public call to testify, and he is a witness, either seeing or coming to know the matter, yet does not speak, he will be responsible for his violation;

Leviticus 5:2 or if any throat touches a contaminated thing, whether a carcass of a contaminated wild animal or a carcass of contaminated livestock or a carcass of contaminated swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he has become contaminated, and he realizes his offence;

Leviticus 5:3 or if he touches human contamination, of whatever sort the contamination may be with which one becomes contaminated, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and realizes his offence;

Leviticus 5:4 or if any throat utters with his lips an overconfident oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of overconfident oath that a human swears, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his offence in any of these;

Leviticus 5:5 when he realizes his offence in any of these and confesses the failure,

Leviticus 5:6 he will bring to Yahveh as his reparation for the failure, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a failure offering. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him for his mistake.

Leviticus 5:7 “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he will bring to Yahveh as his reparation for the failure two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a failure offering and the other for an ascending offering.

Leviticus 5:8 He will bring them to the priest, who will offer first the one for the failure offering. He will wring its head from its neck but will not divide it completely,

Leviticus 5:9 and he will spritz some of the blood of the failure offering on the wall of the altar, while the remainder of the blood will be pressed out at the base of the altar; it is a failure offering.

Leviticus 5:10 Then he will offer the second for an ascending offering according to the judgment.[1] And the priest will provide reconciliation for him for the failure, and he will be forgiven.

Leviticus 5:11 “But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he will bring as his offering for the failure a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a failure offering. He will put no oil on it and will put no frankincense on it, because it is a failure offering.

Leviticus 5:12 And he will bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful of it as its reminiscence and burn this on the altar, on Yahveh’s fire offerings; it is a failure offering.

Leviticus 5:13 Thus the priest will provide reconciliation for him for the failure in any one of these things, and he will be forgiven. And the remainder will be for the priest, as in the tribute offering.”

Leviticus 5:14 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 5:15 “If any throat commits an act of betrayal and fails inadvertently in any of the sacred things of Yahveh, he will bring to Yahveh as his reparation, a perfect ram out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a reparation offering.

Leviticus 5:16 He will also make reparation for his failure in the sacred thing and will add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him with the ram of the reparation offering, and he will be forgiven.

Leviticus 5:17 “If any throat fails, doing any of the things that by Yahveh’s commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his offence, he will be responsible for his violation.

Leviticus 5:18 He will bring to the priest a perfect ram out of the flock, or its equivalent for a reparation offering, and the priest will provide reconciliation for him for the unintentional failure, and he will be forgiven.

Leviticus 5:19 It is a reparation offering; he has indeed committed an offence in Yahveh’s sight.”

[1] מִשְׁפָּט = judgment. Leviticus 5:10; 9:16; 18:4, 5, 26; 19:15, 35, 37; 20:22; 24:22; 25:18; 26:15, 43, 46.

Leviticus 5 quotes:

“The sins detailed in Leviticus 5:14—19 all required restitution. The text does not specifically tell us why, but each one appears to involve an offense either against a “holy thing of the Lord” or against the property of another person. Either way, and regardless of whether the offense was intentional or accidental, the damage was done and had to be dealt with.”

Holiness unto God : Leviticus. Nelson Impact, 2006. p. 18.

“The worth of the sacrifices to be offered ran the scale from costly to relatively inexpensive—anyone who desired to do so could afford such an offering (Leviticus 5:7).”

March, W. Eugene. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Abingdon Press, 2012. p, 52.

“In Leviticus 5 Moses discussed a new aspect in the worship of God called the trespass offering. Here the worshiper -has trespassed some revealed commandment of God. But since there is more about God that we do not know than what we do know, it is possible that we could offend Him unwittingly. There are, however, some things about God that He has revealed. Here again Leviticus gives careful instructions as to what the worshipers are to do.”

Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 15.

ACST 50- The Sacrifice
blameless devotion
reparation for failures
reparation is possible
the same forgiveness
the second bird

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

Leviticus 4

Leviticus 4

Leviticus 4:1 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 4:2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and this is what you should say, if any throat fails[1] inadvertently any of Yahveh’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them,

Leviticus 4:3 if it is the anointed priest who fails, thus bringing the need for reparation on the people, then he will offer for the failure that he has made a perfect bull from the herd to Yahveh for a failure offering.[2]

Leviticus 4:4 He will bring the bull to the entrance of the conference tent to Yahveh’s face and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 4:5 And the anointed priest will take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the conference tent,

Leviticus 4:6 and the priest will dip his finger in the blood and spritz part of the blood seven times to Yahveh’s face at the face of the veil of the sanctuary.

Leviticus 4:7 And the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense to Yahveh’s face that is in the conference tent, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he will pour out at the base of the altar of ascending offering that is at the entrance of the conference tent.

Leviticus 4:8 And all the fat of the bull of the failure offering he will remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails

Leviticus 4:9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he will remove with the kidneys

Leviticus 4:10 (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice for healthy relationships); and the priest will burn them on the altar of the ascending offering.

Leviticus 4:11 But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung —

Leviticus 4:12 all the rest of the bull — he will carry outside the camp to a pure place, to the ash heap, and will burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it will be burned up.

Leviticus 4:13 “If the whole congregation of Israel fails inadvertently and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the collected assembly, and they do any one of the things that by Yahveh’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their offence,

Leviticus 4:14 when the failure becomes known, the collected assembly will offer a bull from the herd for a failure offering and bring it at the face of the conference tent.

Leviticus 4:15 And the elders of the congregation will lay their hands on the head of the bull to Yahveh’s face, and the bull will be killed to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 4:16 Then the anointed priest will bring some of the blood of the bull into the conference tent,

Leviticus 4:17 and the priest will dip his finger in the blood and spritz it seven times to Yahveh’s face in the face of the veil.

Leviticus 4:18 And he will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the conference tent to Yahveh’s face, and the rest of the blood he will pour out at the base of the altar of ascending offering that is at the entrance of the conference tent.

Leviticus 4:19 And all its fat he will take from it and burn on the altar.

Leviticus 4:20 Thus will he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the failure offering, so will he do with this. And the priest will provide reconciliation for them, and they will be forgiven.

Leviticus 4:21 And he will carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the failure offering for the collected assembly.

Leviticus 4:22 “When a leader fails, doing inadvertently any one of all the things that by the commandments of Yahveh his God ought not to be done, and realizes his offence,

Leviticus 4:23 or the failure is made known to him, he will bring as his offering a goat, a perfect male,

Leviticus 4:24 and will lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the ascending offering to Yahveh’s face; it is a failure offering.

Leviticus 4:25 Then the priest will take some of the blood of the failure offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascending offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of ascending offering.

Leviticus 4:26 And all its fat he will burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice for healthy relationships. So, the priest will provide reconciliation for him for his failure, and he will be forgiven.

Leviticus 4:27 “If any one throat of the people in the land fails inadvertently in doing any one of the things that by Yahveh’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his offence,

Leviticus 4:28 or the failure is made known to him, he will bring for his offering a goat, a perfect female, for his mistake which he has made.

Leviticus 4:29 And he will lay his hand on the head of the failure offering and kill the failure offering in the place of the ascending offering.

Leviticus 4:30 And the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascending offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.

Leviticus 4:31 And all its fat he will remove, as the fat is removed from the sacrifice for healthy relationships, and the priest will burn it on the altar for a pacifying aroma to Yahveh. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him, and he will be forgiven.

Leviticus 4:32 “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a failure offering, he will bring a perfect female

Leviticus 4:33 and lay his hand on the head of the failure offering and kill it for a failure offering in the place where they kill the ascending offering.

Leviticus 4:34 Then the priest will take some of the blood of the failure offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascending offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.

Leviticus 4:35 And all its fat he will remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice for healthy relationships, and the priest will burn it on the altar, on top of Yahveh’s fire offerings. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him for the failure, and he will be forgiven.

[1] חָטָא = fail, failure, cleanse. Leviticus 4:2, 3, 14, 22, 23, 27, 28, 35; 5:1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17; 6:2, 3, 4, 26; 8:15; 9:15; 14:49, 52; 19:22.

[2] חַטָּאת = failure, failure offering. Leviticus 4:3, 8, 14, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35; 5:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; 6:17, 25, 30; 7:7, 37; 8:2, 14; 9:2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 15, 22; 10:16, 17, 19; 12:6, 8; 14:13, 19, 22, 31; 15:15, 30; 16:3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 15, 16, 21, 25, 27, 30, 34; 19:22; 23:19; 26:18, 21, 24, 28.

Leviticus 4 quotes:

“The sin offering points to many lessons that are crucial for a healthy Christian life. Jesus, our sin offering, makes atonement for our sins of ignorance — the unintentional error of our ways — for which restitution is not possible on our own (Leviticus 4:5-12). This offering portrays expiation for our inadvertent sins, negligence, and failures. When we realize some specific sin we have committed (Leviticus 4:23), we are to immediately bring it before the Lord, receiving the forgiveness paid for through Christ’s work on the cross.”

Stringer, Doug. Born to Die : So We May Live. Bridge-Logos, 2006. p. 83.

“Leviticus 4 thus interprets the sacrifice in the light of human sin and the necessity of atonement. This is where the heart of the theologians of the time beats, the compelling evidence for which is the extremely high concentration of vocabulary relating to sin and atonement in chaps. 4-16.”

Gerstenberger, Erhard S. Leviticus : A Commentary. 1st American ed, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. p. 71.

“Leviticus 4 gives a careful description of an offering made as atonement for the sin of ignorance, because a person might do something wrong and be unaware of it. But even when done inadvertently, sin is still sin. I may not know what I have done wrong, but God knows it. This entire chapter deals with sinning in ignorance on the part of the priest, the whole congregation, the ruler, or any one of the common people.”

Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 12.

Leviticus 4 links:

a devoted community
ACST 50- The Sacrifice
lamb instead of goat
ripple effect
sin is a mistake
when democracy fails us
when I fail myself
when our leaders fail us

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

LISTEN TO THIS!

LISTEN TO THIS!

Psalm 49 NET.

For the music director, a psalm by the Korahites. 1 Listen to this, all you nations! Pay attention, all you inhabitants of the world! 2 Pay attention, all you people, both rich and poor! 3 I will declare a wise saying; I will share my profound thoughts. 4 I will learn a song that imparts wisdom; I will then sing my insightful song to the accompaniment of a harp. 5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble, when the sinful deeds of deceptive men threaten to overwhelm me? 6 They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches. 7 Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother; he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price 8 (the ransom price for a human life is too high, and people go to their final destiny), 9 so that he might continue to live forever and not experience death. 10 Surely one sees that even wise people die; fools and spiritually insensitive people all pass away and leave their wealth to others. 11 Their grave becomes their permanent residence, their eternal dwelling place. They name their lands after themselves, 12 but, despite their wealth, people do not last; they are like animals that perish. 13 This is the destiny of fools, and of those who approve of their philosophy. ( Selah) 14 They will travel to Sheol like sheep, with death as their shepherd. The godly will rule over them when the day of vindication dawns; Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses. 15 But God will rescue my life from the power of Sheol; certainly he will pull me to safety. ( Selah) 16 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich and his wealth multiplies! 17 For he will take nothing with him when he dies; his wealth will not follow him down into the grave. 18 He pronounces this blessing on himself while he is alive: “May men praise you, for you have done well!” 19 But he will join his ancestors; they will never again see the light of day. 20 Wealthy people do not understand; they are like animals that perish.

We are continuing our reading of the Psalter (the book of Psalms) in the Old Testament. Although it contains poetry, the Psalter is more than mere poetry. It is the source of many of the predictions about the coming Messiah that are revealed in the New Testament. For example:

  • This book teaches that Jesus was called to a permanent priesthood that would replace the Aaronic priesthood.
  • This book teaches us that Jesus was passionate about his Father’s house, the temple at Jerusalem.
  • This book teaches that the world’s leaders would rise against King Jesus. He would have many enemies and be hated for no reason. It predicts that a close companion would betray Jesus.
  • This book teaches that Jesus would die an agonizing death on the cross, that the soldiers would gamble for his clothing. He would cry out to God, asking why he had forsaken him.
  • This book teaches some of the most essential New Testament truths about theology: the revelation of God in nature, the need for a Savior, justification by God’s grace, and the supremacy of Christ.

We don’t know the tune for today’s song, but we do know its authors. It was composed, not by David, but by the sons of Korah. You might remember the name Korah from our reading of the book of Exodus. If you do, you might be asking yourself why we have psalms from this group. Korah was a rebel Levite who tried to overthrow Moses. The ground swallowed him and all his followers as punishment.  But Moses had allowed any of the sons of Korah who would dissociate themselves from their father’s sin to be saved. Three of them did. We even know their names: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Abiasaph was an ancestor of Samuel. But mostly we know about the sons of Korah from the psalms that they wrote. So far, we have read eight of them: one in 1 Chronicles 6, and seven in Psalms. Four more will appear in the Psalms as we keep reading.

I’m glad we have psalms written by this group because they remind us that God can redeem anyone. It doesn’t matter who your parents were or who your ancestors were. God can use you. He can take the mistakes of your history and turn them into a message of hope and mercy for today.

But what did the sons of Korah write about in today’s psalm? What was the focus?

This is a song for everyone.

The psalm challenges us to listen. One of the most memorable passages in the Old Testament begins with the same word: the Shema. Deuteronomy 6:4 says: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It’s called the Shema because the Hebrew word for hear or listen is Shema. The sons of Korah use the same word to begin this psalm. It starts with the phrase שִׁמְעוּ־זֹאת, which could be translated “Y’all listen to this.” So, the message that the sons of Korah teach in this psalm is not directed merely toward the nation of Israel. It is for all the nations, all the inhabitants of the world.

When I get an email from someone who has a message for me, I can reply to that email, and my reply will go to the original sender of that email. But if the sender includes a bunch of people in the same email that he sent to me, I have the option to send my reply not just to him but to everyone who got the original message. If I want to do that, instead of hitting the reply button, I can hit the reply-all button. That’s what the sons of Korah are doing here. They have looked around all over the world, and they have learned a valuable lesson about life. They want to share that message with everyone it applies to. So, when they say “Listen to this”, their song is not going out to an individual “you.” It’s not even going out to a collective nation of y’all. They’re saying, “All y’all listen to this.”

This is a song for everyone: the great and the small, the wise and the simple, the rich and the poor. The sons of Korah say, “Put this on your playlist.”  

The rich need to listen.

Some people in this world never have to worry about which bills get paid this month and which stay on the stack. They get a bill, and they pay it. They don’t have to consult their accounts to see if they have enough because they always have enough. The sons of Korah have met these people. They know about wealthy people. They probably were not rich people, but they knew about them.

One thing they had learned about rich people was that they tend to be overconfident. Since they never met a problem that they could not fix by throwing money at it, they tended to trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches. They never met a wall they could not scale because there was always money to build another ladder. But the sons of Korah discovered that there was a limit to even what a millionaire’s money could buy.

They can’t buy a better coffee than Chock full o’nuts. No, that’s not it. Even a millionaire gets stopped in his tracks when he comes face to face with the enemy, death. If his brother gets sick, then all his money cannot rescue his brother from the danger of death. If he gets ill or injured, and death comes a’calling, he’s not going to prevent that inevitable appointment.

Even if you are lucky enough never to lose your fortune, one day it’s going to go to someone else. You can’t keep it where you are going. You’ve never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul, and you never will.

So, the song of the sons of Korah is a song to the rich. It tells them that their money cannot buy them the one thing that they need more than anything they now have. They can contribute some of their money to God and his ministry, but that does not make them like God. Money cannot buy immortality.

They might have all the money in the world, but when they lie in that hospital bed, they will discover that it cannot reverse the curse. Sin’s penalty is death, and no amount of money paid will commute that sentence. They are like sheep being led by death as their shepherd. They can’t turn around. They can’t run in the opposite direction. They are headed to Sheol – the state of death.

The rest need to listen.

The rest of us need to listen to this song, too. What is true of the rich is also true of the not-so-rich. We also have a date with the undertaker, and we will keep that appointment.

When my father died, my mother purchased a headstone for him and included another with her name on it. For years, she would go to the cemetery and stare at a tombstone with her name on it. It was creepy, but it was also a reminder of the reality that she was going to Sheol, too. She kept her appointment. We laid her to rest in 2019. A few years ago, when I was studying this chapter, I noticed that one of my study Bibles said that the unrighteous go to Sheol when they die, but the righteous go to God. That’s just not true. The hope that the sons of Korah had was not that they would automatically float up into God’s presence when they die. Verse 15 says that their hope was for God to rescue them from Sheol, to pull them to safety.

David shared the same hope, stating in Psalm 17 that he planned to see God face to face when he woke up from the sleep of death. His hope was not going to God at death, but being raised to life by God. That is the biblical hope. When his friend Lazarus had died, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples that Lazarus was in God’s presence. He said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to awaken him.”  He says the same thing to us today about those friends and family who are out in the cemetery.

In our responsive reading this morning, we read what Jesus promised in John chapter 6. Jesus promises something four times in that chapter, and it is not that he will welcome our loved ones to heaven when they die. The promise is that he will raise them on the last day—the day of his second coming.

The sons of Korah were not looking for a transition at death; they were looking for a rescue at the resurrection. They said, “God will rescue my life from the power of Sheol; certainly he will pull me to safety.” Like Job, they were looking for their redeemer to come and restore their lives so that in their flesh they could see God (Job 19:25). Like Isaiah, they encouraged the righteous with the promise that their dead will come back to life, their corpses will rise (Isaiah 26:19). Like Daniel, they encouraged believers to look forward to the day when those who sleep in the dust will rise to eternal life (Daniel 12:2). Their goal in life was not to die. Their objective was to live again. Like Paul, they aimed to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection and to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11).

This is the gospel, and it applies equally to the rich and the poor because nobody is rich enough to avoid death. But the gospel good news is that we have a redeemer. We have hope after death because God does not intend for death to have the last word. Death is the last enemy, and all of God’s enemies will be destroyed. The question for you and me today is not how much money we have, because money can’t buy everything. It may not be able to purchase much happiness, but it certainly cannot buy eternal life.

Today’s psalm talks about rich fools who work their whole lives for something that they will all eventually lose. But the rest of us can live like that, too. You don’t have to be wealthy to focus your life on making money. Poor people can throw away their lives, too. The lasting message of this psalm is sometimes missed. Jesus once pronounced a woe upon the rich because they had received their comfort already (Luke 6:24). He told a parable about a pearl of great value. When the merchant found it, he went out and sold everything he had and bought it (Matthew 13:46). The Christian life is a life of sacrifice because the goal of eternal life is worth the sacrifice. Everything else pales in comparison to that great salvation.

The sad thing is that most people will not try it. They would rather waste their lives on temporary things that they cannot keep. It takes faith to go against that current. It takes faith to tell Jesus, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.”

Leviticus 3

Leviticus 3

Leviticus 3:1 “If his offering is a sacrifice for healthy relationships,[1] if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he will offer it perfect to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 3:2 And he will lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the conference tent, and Aaron’s sons the priests will throw the blood against the sides of the altar.

Leviticus 3:3 And from the sacrifice for healthy relationships, as a fire offering to Yahveh, he will offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,

Leviticus 3:4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he will remove with the kidneys.

Leviticus 3:5 Then Aaron’s sons will burn it on the altar on top of the ascending offering which is on the wood on the fire; it is a fire offering with a pacifying aroma to Yahveh.

Leviticus 3:6 “If his offering for a sacrifice for healthy relationships to Yahveh is an animal from the flock, male or female, he will offer it perfect.

Leviticus 3:7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he will offer it to Yahveh’s face,

Leviticus 3:8 lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill at the face of the conference tent; and Aaron’s sons will throw its blood against the sides of the altar.

Leviticus 3:9 Then from the sacrifice for healthy relationships he will offer as a fire offering to Yahveh its fat; he will remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails

Leviticus 3:10 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he will remove with the kidneys.

Leviticus 3:11 And the priest will burn it on the altar as a fire offering to Yahveh.

Leviticus 3:12 “If his offering is a goat, then he will offer it to Yahveh’s face

Leviticus 3:13 and lay his hand on its head and kill it at the face of the conference tent, and the sons of Aaron will throw its blood against the sides of the altar.

Leviticus 3:14 Then he will offer from it, as his offering for a fire offering to Yahveh, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails

Leviticus 3:15 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he will remove with the kidneys.

Leviticus 3:16 And the priest will burn them on the altar as a fire offering with a pacifying aroma. All fat is Yahveh’s.

Leviticus 3:17 It will be a permanent[2] prescription[3] throughout your generations, wherever you stay, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”

[1] שֶׁלֶם = sacrifice for healthy relationships. Leviticus 3:1, 3, 6, 9; 4:10, 26, 31, 35; 6:12; 7:11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 29, 32, 33, 34, 37; 9:4, 18, 22; 10:14; 17:5; 19:5; 22:21; 23:19.

[2] עוֹלָם = permanent. Leviticus 3:17; 6:18, 22; 7:34, 36; 10:9, 15; 16:29, 31, 34; 17:7; 23:14, 21, 31, 41; 24:3, 8, 9; 25:32, 34, 46.

[3] חֻקָּה = prescription. Leviticus 3:17; 7:36; 10:9; 16:29, 31, 34; 17:7; 18:3, 4, 5, 26, 30; 19:19, 37; 20:8, 22, 23; 23:14, 21, 31, 41; 24:3; 25:18; 26:3, 15, 43.

Leviticus 3 quotes:

“Christians should be scrupulous in ensuring that their forms of worship are thoroughly scriptural, and are not contaminated by superstition or purely human values. Otherwise what is holy to the Lord will be profaned, and punishment will follow instead of blessing (8).”

Harrison, R. K. Leviticus, an Introduction and Commentary. Inter-Varsity Press, 1980. p. 197.

“Sometimes the gifts we give one another are extravagant, and sometimes they are small, and the latter may be just as meaningful. The same is true with offerings to God. It would be really extravagant to sacrifice a steer and somewhat extravagant to offer a sheep or a goat. Leviticus 3 allows just as happily for a person to offer some grain, raw or baked as bread or griddled or fried. This would be much less costly, an everyday kind of offering.”

Goldingay, John. Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone. First edition, Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. p. 131.

“The peace offering was the only sacrifice in which the person making the offering received anything back from what he presented. Both the person bringing the offering and the priest got to eat from the offering. This represents mutual acceptance and mutual enjoyment between man, priest, and God. At the peace offering they communed together — fellowship made possible through the blood covenant that gave them a common bond.”

Stringer, Doug. Born to Die : So We May Live. Bridge-Logos, 2006. p. 73.

Leviticus 3 links:

committed devotion
community reconciliation
community relationships
protection comes from the LORD

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library