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Leviticus 14

Leviticus 14

Leviticus 14:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 14:2 “This will be the instruction of the person with a rash for the day of his cleansing. He will be brought to the priest,

Leviticus 14:3 and the priest will go out of the camp, and the priest will look. Then, if he notices that the case of skin disease is healed in the person with the rash,

Leviticus 14:4 the priest will command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live pure birds and cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.

Leviticus 14:5 And the priest will command them to kill one of the birds in a clay pottery container over fresh water.

Leviticus 14:6 He will take the live bird with the cedar wood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.

Leviticus 14:7 And he will spritz it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the skin disease. Then he will pronounce him clean and will let the living bird go into the face of the field.

Leviticus 14:8 And he who is to be cleansed will wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he will be clean. And after that he may come into the camp but stay outside his tent seven days.

Leviticus 14:9 And on the seventh day he will shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He will shave off all his hair, and then he will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

Leviticus 14:10 “And on the eighth day he will take two male perfect lambs, and one perfect ewe lamb a year old, and a tribute offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil.

Leviticus 14:11 And the priest who cleanses him will set the man who is to be cleansed and these things to Yahveh’s face, at the entrance of the conference tent.

Leviticus 14:12 And the priest will take one of the male lambs and offer it for a reparation offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:13 And he will kill the lamb in the place where they kill the failure offering and the ascending offering in the place of the sanctuary. For the reparation offering, like the failure offering, belongs to the priest; it is most sacred.

Leviticus 14:14 The priest will take some of the blood of the reparation offering, and the priest will put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

Leviticus 14:15 Then the priest will take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand

Leviticus 14:16 and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and spritz some oil with his finger seven times to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:17 And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest will put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the reparation offering.

Leviticus 14:18 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest will provide reconciliation for him to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:19 The priest will offer the failure offering, to provide reconciliation for him who is to be cleansed from his contamination. And afterward he will kill the ascending offering.

Leviticus 14:20 And the priest will offer the ascending offering and the tribute offering on the altar. This is how the priest will provide reconciliation for him, and he will be clean.

Leviticus 14:21 “But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he will take one male lamb for a reparation offering to be waved, to provide reconciliation for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a tribute offering, and a log of oil;

Leviticus 14:22 also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one will be a failure offering and the other an ascending offering.

Leviticus 14:23 And on the eighth day he will bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the conference tent, to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:24 And the priest will take the lamb of the reparation offering and the log of oil, and the priest will wave them for a wave offering to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:25 And he will kill the lamb of the reparation offering. And the priest will take some of the blood of the reparation offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

Leviticus 14:26 And the priest will pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,

Leviticus 14:27 and will spritz with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:28 And the priest will put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the reparation offering was put.

Leviticus 14:29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to provide reconciliation for him to Yahveh’s face.

Leviticus 14:30 And he will offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford,

Leviticus 14:31 one for a failure offering and the other for an ascending offering along with a tribute offering. And the priest will provide reconciliation to Yahveh’s face for him who is being cleansed.

Leviticus 14:32 This is the instruction for him in whom is a case of skin disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”

Leviticus 14:33 Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 14:34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of skin disease in a house in the land of your possession,

Leviticus 14:35 then the owner the house will come and tell the priest, and this is what he should say, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’

Leviticus 14:36 Then the priest will command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, or else all that is in the house be declared contaminated. And afterward the priest will go in to see the house.

Leviticus 14:37 And he will examine the disease. And if he notices that the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be lower than the wall,

Leviticus 14:38 then the priest will go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.

Leviticus 14:39 And the priest will come again on the seventh day, and look. If he notices that the disease has spread in the walls of the house,

Leviticus 14:40 then the priest will command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into a contaminated place outside the city.

Leviticus 14:41 And he will have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they will pour out in a contaminated place outside the city.

Leviticus 14:42 Then they will take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he will take other plaster and plaster the house.

Leviticus 14:43 “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it,

Leviticus 14:44 then the priest will go and look. And if he notices that the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent skin disease in the house; it is contaminated.

Leviticus 14:45 And he will break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he will carry them out of the city to a contaminated place.

Leviticus 14:46 Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up will be contaminated until the evening,

Leviticus 14:47 and whoever sleeps in the house will wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house will wash his clothes.

Leviticus 14:48 “But if the priest comes and looks, and if he notices that the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest will pronounce the house clean, because the disease is healed.

Leviticus 14:49 And for the cleansing of the house he will take two small birds, with cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop,

Leviticus 14:50 and will kill one of the birds in a clay pottery container over fresh water

Leviticus 14:51 and will take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and spritz the house seven times.

Leviticus 14:52 Thus he will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet yarn.

Leviticus 14:53 And he will let the live bird go out of the city into the face of the field. So, he will provide reconciliation for the house, and it will be clean.”

Leviticus 14:54 This is the instruction for any case of skin disease: for an itch,

Leviticus 14:55 for skin disease in clothes or in a house,

Leviticus 14:56 and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot,

Leviticus 14:57 to show when it is contaminated and when it is pure. This is the instruction for skin disease.

Leviticus 14 quotes:

“God uses leprosy in Leviticus 14 to illustrate how our sins were cleansed in Jesus 2000 years ago on the cross. This is the same chapter Jesus referred to in Matthew 8:1-4 after He healed a leper. When the leper was “cleansed” or healed, Jesus told him to follow the prescription in Leviticus 14. A healed leper would undergo a specific ritual designed to teach about the Messiah and His redemptive work.”

Stringer, Doug. Born to Die : So We May Live. Bridge-Logos, 2006. p. 113.

“Second, if, after patient examination, we see that the plague is spreading in the house, we must take action. The rebellious child who will not respond to proper discipline, the church member who defies the church — these must be removed from the house (Leviticus 14:40), lest the house should come to ruin. Remember the balance in Paul’s admonition: “Do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15).”

Rosenbaum, Philip. How to Enjoy the Boring Parts of the Bible. 1st ed, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1991. p. 94.

” It was a priority to rid the house of what was so real and potentially destructive in the invisible realm that its power was manifested in the physical realm. Such a leprosy had to be dealt with by spiritual redemption. So it was that sacrifice was offered. Elaborate detail is given to this, and appropriately so, for each facet forecasts a different aspect of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. “

Hayford, Jack W. Glory on Your House. 1st pbk. ed, Chosen Books, 1991. p. 62.

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

Leviticus 13

Leviticus 13

Leviticus 13:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 13:2 “When a human has on the outer layer of his skin a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of skin disease[1] on the outer layer of his skin, then he will be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests,

Leviticus 13:3 and the priest will examine the diseased area on the outer layer of his skin. And if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the outer layer of his skin, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has examined him, he will pronounce him contaminated.

Leviticus 13:4 But if the spot is white in the outer layer of his skin and appears no deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest will isolate the diseased person for seven days.

Leviticus 13:5 And the priest will examine him on the seventh day, and if he notices in his eyes the disease is checked and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest will shut him up for another seven days.

Leviticus 13:6 And the priest will examine him again on the seventh day, and if he notices the diseased area has faded and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean; it is only a scab. And he will wash his clothes and be clean.

Leviticus 13:7 But if the scab spreads in the skin, after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he will appear again before the priest.

Leviticus 13:8 And the priest will look, and if he notices the scab has spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him contaminated; it is a leprous disease.

Leviticus 13:9 “When a human is afflicted with a leprous disease, he will be brought to the priest,

Leviticus 13:10 and the priest will look. And if he notices there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling,

Leviticus 13:11 it is a chronic leprous disease in the outer layer of his skin, and the priest will pronounce him contaminated. He will not isolate him, because he is contaminated.

Leviticus 13:12 And if the leprous disease breaks out in the skin, so that the leprous disease covers all the skin of the diseased person from head to foot, so far as the priest can see,

Leviticus 13:13 then the priest will look, and if he notices the leprous disease has covered all his body, he will pronounce him clean of the disease; it has all turned white, and he is pure.

Leviticus 13:14 But when raw flesh appears on him, he will be contaminated.

Leviticus 13:15 And the priest will examine the raw flesh and pronounce him contaminated. Raw flesh is contaminated, because it is a leprous disease.

Leviticus 13:16 But if the raw flesh recovers and turns white again, then he will come to the priest,

Leviticus 13:17 and the priest will examine him, and if he notices the disease has turned white, then the priest will pronounce the diseased person clean; he is pure.

Leviticus 13:18 “If there is in the outer layer of someone’s skin a boil and it heals,

Leviticus 13:19 and in the place of the boil there comes a white swelling or a reddish-white spot, then it will be shown to the priest.

Leviticus 13:20 And the priest will look, and if he notices that it appears deeper than the skin and its hair has turned white, then the priest will pronounce him contaminated. It is a case of leprous disease that has broken out in the boil.

Leviticus 13:21 But if the priest examines it and notices that there is no white hair in it and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest will shut him up seven days.

Leviticus 13:22 And if it spreads in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him contaminated; it is a disease.

Leviticus 13:23 But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest will pronounce him clean.

Leviticus 13:24 “Or, when a body has a burn on its skin and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a spot, reddish-white or white,

Leviticus 13:25 the priest will examine it, and if he notices that the hair in the spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, then it is a leprous disease. It has broken out in the burn, and the priest will pronounce him contaminated; it is a case of leprous disease.

Leviticus 13:26 But if the priest examines it and notices that there is no white hair in the spot and it is no deeper than the skin, but has faded, the priest will isolate him seven days,

Leviticus 13:27 and the priest will examine him the seventh day. If it is spreading in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him contaminated; it is a case of leprous disease.

Leviticus 13:28 But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread in the skin, but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest will pronounce him clean, because it is the scar of the burn.

Leviticus 13:29 “When a man or woman has a disease on the head or the beard,

Leviticus 13:30 the priest will examine the disease. And if he notices that it appears deeper than the skin, and the hair in it is yellow and thin, then the priest will pronounce him contaminated. It is an itch, a leprous disease of the head or the beard.

Leviticus 13:31 And if the priest examines the itching disease and notices that it appears no deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, then the priest will isolate the person with the itching disease for seven days,

Leviticus 13:32 and on the seventh day the priest will examine the disease. If he notices that the itch has not spread, and there is in it no yellow hair, and the itch appears to be no deeper than the skin,

Leviticus 13:33 then he will shave himself, but the itch he will not shave; and the priest will isolate the person with the itching disease for another seven days.

Leviticus 13:34 And on the seventh day the priest will examine the itch, and if he notices that the itch has not spread in the skin and it appears to be no deeper than the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean. And he will wash his clothes and be clean.

Leviticus 13:35 But if the itch spreads in the skin after his cleansing,

Leviticus 13:36 then the priest will examine him, and if he notices that the itch has spread in the skin, the priest need not seek for the yellow hair; he is contaminated.

Leviticus 13:37 But if in his eyes the itch is unchanged and black hair has grown in it, the itch is healed and he is pure, and the priest will pronounce him clean.

Leviticus 13:38 “When a man or a woman has spots on the outer layer of their skin, white spots,

Leviticus 13:39 the priest will look, and if he notices that the spots on the outer layer of their skin are of a dull white, it is leukoderma that has broken out in the skin; he is pure.

Leviticus 13:40 “If a man’s hair falls out from his head, he is bald; he is pure.

Leviticus 13:41 If he loses the hair from his face and temples, he has baldness of the forehead but he is pure.

Leviticus 13:42 But if there is on the bald head or the bald forehead a reddish-white diseased area, it is a leprous disease breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead.

Leviticus 13:43 Then the priest will examine him, and if he notices that the diseased swelling is reddish white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, like the appearance of leprous disease in the outer layer of his skin,

Leviticus 13:44 he is a leprous man, he is contaminated. The priest must pronounce him contaminated; his disease is on his head.

Leviticus 13:45 “The leprous person who has the disease will wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he will cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘contaminated, contaminated.’

Leviticus 13:46 He will stay contaminated as long as he has the disease. He is contaminated. He will stay alone. His dwelling will be outside the camp.

Leviticus 13:47 “When there is a case of leprous disease in clothes, whether woolen or linen clothes,

Leviticus 13:48 in warp or woof of linen or wool, or in a skin or in anything made of skin,

Leviticus 13:49 if the disease is greenish or reddish in the clothes, or in the skin or in the warp or the woof or in any container made of skin, it is a case of leprous disease, and it will be shown to the priest.

Leviticus 13:50 And the priest will examine the disease and isolate that which has the disease for seven days.

Leviticus 13:51 Then he will examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the clothes, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, the disease is a persistent leprous disease; it is contaminated.

Leviticus 13:52 And he will burn the clothes, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any container made of skin that is diseased, because it is a persistent leprous disease. It will be burned in the fire.

Leviticus 13:53 “And if the priest examines, and if he notices that the disease has not spread in the clothes, in the warp or the woof or in any container made of skin,

Leviticus 13:54 then the priest will command that they wash the thing in which is the disease, and he will isolate it for another seven days.

Leviticus 13:55 And the priest will examine the diseased thing after it has been washed. And if he notices that the appearance of the diseased area has not changed, though the disease has not spread, it is contaminated. You will burn it in the fire, whether the rot is on the back or on the front.

Leviticus 13:56 “But if the priest examines, and if the diseased area has faded after it has been washed, he will tear it out of the clothes or the skin or the warp or the woof.

Leviticus 13:57 Then if it appears again in the clothes, in the warp or the woof, or in any container made of skin, it is spreading. You will burn with fire whatever has the disease.

Leviticus 13:58 But the clothes, or the warp or the woof, or any container made of skin from which the disease departs when you have washed it, will then be washed a second time, and be clean.”

Leviticus 13:59 This is the instruction for a case of leprous disease in wool or linen clothing, either in the warp or the woof, or in any container made of skin, to determine whether it is clean or contaminated.

[1] צָרָעַת = skin disease (not leprosy. HALOT 8200). Leviticus 13:2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 20, 25, 27, 30, 42, 43, 47, 49, 51, 52, 59; 14:3, 7, 32, 34, 44, 54, 55, 57.

Leviticus 13 quotes:

“These four appearances—swellings, eruptions, spots, or itch—are characteristic of many difterent skin diseases, however, and cannot be regarded as four different manifestations of a single disease, and especially not leprosy.”

Shellberg, Pamela. Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts : Purity and Healing in Luke-Acts. Fortress Press, 2015. p. 35.

“Now, the illnesses discernible in Leviticus 13 in no way correspond to leprosy. The identification of leprosy with the skin manifestations described in this chapter, advocated especially by Christians, skin manifestations caused by God and thus prompting exclusion from any fellowship with him and human beings in general, was thus a horrible mistake, quite apart from the fact that Jesus himself certainly had no fear of those sick with leprosy (cf. Mark 1:40f.; Matt. 10:7f.). Indeed, all the maladies classified in Leviticus 13 as contaminating are curable (cf. Lev. 13:37; 14:2f.), whereas in contrast, true leprosy was absolutely incurable given the medical conditions of that time.”

Gerstenberger, Erhard S. Leviticus : A Commentary. 1st American ed, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. p. 156.

“At stake there is a description of who is unworthy to be part of the holy community, to approach the Lord in the holy place (Lev. 21:18). In this regard, the concerns are with states of being rather than functions. Persons who have a blemish, who are blind or lame, who have a mutilated face or a limb too long, an injured foot or hand, a hunchback , a sight defect, an itching disease or scabs, or crushed testicles, all of these are certainly capable of doing. But their specific condition describes a state of unwholeness and thus they are not permitted to join in the social behavior of group worship of God. Again, the issue is one of a state of unworthiness, not the loss of bodily activities.”

Pilch, John J. Healing in the New Testament : Insights from Medical and Mediterranean Anthropology. Fortress Press, 2000. p, 113.

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

Leviticus 12

Leviticus 12

Leviticus 12:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 12:2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and this is what you should say, if a woman conceives and gives birth to[1] a male child, then she will be contaminated seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she will be contaminated.

Leviticus 12:3 And on the eighth day the foreskin of his penis will be circumcised.

Leviticus 12:4 Then she will stay for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She will not touch anything sacred, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.

Leviticus 12:5 But if she gives birth to a female child, then she will be contaminated two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she will stay in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.

Leviticus 12:6 “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she will bring to the priest at the entrance of the conference tent a lamb a year old for an ascending offering and a pigeon or a turtledove for a failure offering,

Leviticus 12:7 and he will offer it to Yahveh’s face and provide reconciliation for her. Then she will be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the instruction for her who gives birth to a child, either male or female.

Leviticus 12:8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she will take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for an ascending offering and the other for a failure offering. And the priest will provide reconciliation for her, and she will be clean.”

[1] יָלַד = give birth to. Leviticus 12:2, 5, 7; 22:27; 25:45.

Leviticus 12 quotes:

In giving birth to a baby, the mother experienced bleeding (Lev. 12:4—5, 7), as well as the secretion of other bodily fluids (see chap. 15), and this made her ceremonially unclean. The theme of Leviticus 12 is not personal holiness but ritual purification for the mother, without which she could not return to normal life in her home.”

Wiersbe, Warren W. Leviticus : Becoming “Set Apart” for God. First edition, David C Cook, 2015. p. 52.

“Therefore, nothing in Leviticus 12 should be interpreted to teach that human sexuality is “dirty,” that pregnancy is defiling, or that babies are impure. God created humans “male and female” (Gen. 1:27), and when God declared His creation to be “very good” (v. 31), that declaration included sex. He commanded our first parents to “be fruitful, and multiply” (v. 28); in spite of contemporary negative attitudes toward babies, Scripture presents children as blessings from God (Ps. 113:9; 127:3-5; 128:3; Prov. 17:6; Matt. 19:14). If for some reason a pregnancy was unwanted, the Jews would never consider aborting the baby.”

Wiersbe, p. 53.

“God wished to instruct his people that sin is caused not only by one’s environment but is the result of internal pollution as well. Chapter 11 spoke about uncleanness from external contact with certain creatures. But chapters 12-15 speak about man’s uncleanness resulting from internal sources. Chapter 12 deals with defilement following childbirth, chapters 13 and 14 with uncleanness caused by skin diseases, and chapter 15 with pollution associated with reproduction.”

Lenz, Mark J. Leviticus. Northwestern Pub. House, 1988. p. 102.

Leviticus 12 links:

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

devotion and normal
she will be clean

Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11:1 And Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said to them,

Leviticus 11:2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and this is what you should say, these are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the land.

Leviticus 11:3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

Leviticus 11:4 However, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you will not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:5 And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:8 You will not eat any of their meat, and you will not touch their carcasses; they are contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the water. Everything in the water that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.

Leviticus 11:10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the water and of the living throats that are in the water, is taboo to you.

Leviticus 11:11 You will regard them as detestable; [1] you will not eat any of their meat, and you will detest their carcasses.

Leviticus 11:12 Everything in the water that does not have fins and scales is taboo to you.

Leviticus 11:13 “And these you will regard as taboo among the birds; they will not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

Leviticus 11:14 the kite, the falcon of any kind,

Leviticus 11:15 every raven of any kind,

Leviticus 11:16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind,

Leviticus 11:17 the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl,

Leviticus 11:18 the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture,

Leviticus 11:19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the duchifat, and the bat.

Leviticus 11:20 “All winged insects that go on all fours are taboo to you.

Leviticus 11:21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground.

Leviticus 11:22 Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind.

Leviticus 11:23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are taboo to you.

Leviticus 11:24 “And by these you will become contaminated. Whoever touches their carcass will be contaminated until the evening,

Leviticus 11:25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass will wash his clothes and be contaminated until the evening.

Leviticus 11:26 Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is contaminated to you. Everyone who touches them will be contaminated.

Leviticus 11:27 And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are contaminated to you. Whoever touches their carcass will be contaminated until the evening,

Leviticus 11:28 and he who carries their carcass will wash his clothes and be contaminated until the evening; they are contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:29 “And these are contaminated to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind,

Leviticus 11:30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

Leviticus 11:31 These are contaminated to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be contaminated until the evening.

Leviticus 11:32 And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead will be contaminated, whether it is an container of wood or clothes or a skin or a sack, any container that is used for any purpose. It must be put into water, and it will be contaminated until the evening; then it will be clean.

Leviticus 11:33 And if any of them falls into any clay pottery container, all that is in it will be unclean, and you will break it.

Leviticus 11:34 Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, will be contaminated. And all drink that could be drunk from every such container will be contaminated.

Leviticus 11:35 And everything on which any part of their carcass falls will be contaminated. Whether oven or stove, it will be broken in pieces. They are contaminated and will remain contaminated for you.

Leviticus 11:36 Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water will be pure, but whoever touches a carcass in them will be contaminated.

Leviticus 11:37 And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be planted, it is pure,

Leviticus 11:38 but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is contaminated to you.

Leviticus 11:39 “And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass will be contaminated until the evening,

Leviticus 11:40 and whoever eats of its carcass will wash his clothes and be contaminated until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass will wash his clothes and be contaminated until the evening.

Leviticus 11:41 “Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is taboo; it will not be eaten.

Leviticus 11:42 Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you will not eat, because they are taboo.

Leviticus 11:43 You will not make your throats taboo with any swarming thing that swarms, and you will not contaminate yourselves with them, and become contaminated through them.

Leviticus 11:44 Because I am Yahveh your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be sacred, because I am sacred. You will not contaminate your throats with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.

Leviticus 11:45 Because I am Yahveh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You will therefore be sacred, because I am sacred.”

Leviticus 11:46 This is the instruction about animal and bird and every living throat that moves through the water and every throat that swarms on the ground,

Leviticus 11:47 to divide between the contaminated and the pure and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

[1] שָׁקַץ = regard as taboo. Leviticus 11:11, 13, 43; 20:25.

Leviticus 11 quotes:

“Then, Leviticus 11-16 discusses situations and conditions that make a person unable, inappropriate, or excused from normal community life. Such persons are relieved of the responsibility of participating in worship or barred from doing so, depending on their situation.”

House, Paul R. Leviticus/Numbers. Broadman & Holman, 1999. p. 6.

“The description of clean and unclean animal species occurs in Leviticus 11, while the next four chapters deal with instances of human uncleanness. More detailed consideration of these regulations will be undertaken at that point, but here it should merely be noted that contact has occurred, and has interfered with the individual’s state of cultic or ceremonial purity. The uncleanness is accidental (‘it is hidden from him’), hence purificatory rites have not been undertaken. Once the offender knows of his guilt, it is his responsibility to offer expiatory sacrifice, since failure to do so would only worsen his own relationship with God, in addition to affecting the well-being of communal existence. One of the greatest spiritual challenges for the Christian in the complexity of contemporary social life is to keep himself unspotted from the world (Jas. 1:27 AV).”

Harrison, R. K. Leviticus, an Introduction and Commentary. Inter-Varsity Press, 1980. p. 69.

“The Christian church has always attracted a strong contingent of folk who would prefer to deal with the spirit and ignore or deny the body. Such “Gnostic” tendencies are met head-on in John by the declaration that “the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). It would be hard to imagine a more potent Old Testament parallel to such fleshly affirmation than Leviticus 11-15. This is a God who desires not some disembodied congregation of ethereal spirits to worship and serve him, but rather a God who is working to enable even their foods and fluids and flows to witness to the Lord’s tangible presence in their midst.”

Boyce, Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. p. 53.

LEVITICUS in Jeff’s library

ARE YOU THIRSTY?

ARE YOU THIRSTY?

Psalms 63 NET.

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ¹ O God, you are my God! I long for you! My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. ² Yes, in the sanctuary I have seen you, and witnessed your power and splendor. ³ Because experiencing your loyal love is better than life itself, my lips will praise you. ⁴ For this reason I will praise you while I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. ⁵ As if with choice meat you satisfy my soul. My mouth joyfully praises you, ⁶ whenever I remember you on my bed, and think about you during the nighttime hours. ⁷ For you are my deliverer; under your wings I rejoice. ⁸ My soul pursues you; your right hand upholds me. ⁹ Enemies seek to destroy my life, but they will descend into the depths of the earth. ¹⁰ Each one will be handed over to the sword; their corpses will be eaten by jackals. ¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God; everyone who takes oaths in his name will boast, for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up.

Seven years ago, when Penny and I were hiking the Appalachian Trail, we had a night when we lacked drinkable water. We traveled over a thousand miles, but that was the only night I recall having trouble finding water. Usually, there’s a stream, spring, pond, or river nearby where we hike. However, that night I saw some deer, and I was so thirsty that I followed them to see if they would lead me to water. They did, but it was just a puddle, and the water looked very yellow. Despite our thirst, we couldn’t bring ourselves to drink it, so we poured it out. The next day, we came off the mountain and into a city. The first place we stopped, I drank so much! I couldn’t get enough. I remember that day when I read David’s experience here.

David wrote this when he was thirsty for God.

He is in the Judean desert, and he describes it as “a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.” But David sings about gazing not on a stream, lake, or river, but on God’s sanctuary. He is thirsty for the presence of God. His experience with living in a place where water was scarce serves as a symbol for the thirst he was experiencing as he writes this psalm. He is thirsty, but not for the water you can get out of a faucet. He is thirsty for the real and powerful presence of God in his life.

He had experienced God’s active presence in his life before. He talks about being in the sanctuary and seeing God, witnessing his power and splendor. But it was not just God’s greatness that impressed him at those times. He also experienced God’s goodness, particularly his loyal love. That is how this version translates the Hebrew word חֶסֶד that we have encountered several times in our walk through the Old Testament so far this year. It speaks of God’s loyalty he shows to his covenant. He is loyal to the agreement he made with the ancestors of the Israelites – the Patriarchs. He is also faithful to the descendants of the Patriarchs because even though they have strayed away from that covenant many times, his love for them and his own integrity demand that he remain loyal to it, and to them.

To David, his relationship with God is better than life itself. An authentic relationship with God can do that to a person. It can make a person seek God above all other pursuits. It can make a person thirsty for the kind of water that Jesus said would make a person never thirst again.

Jesus encountered a woman in a Samaritan village who was looking for that kind of relationship with God. She didn’t know that was what she needed, but he knew. He came to the well and asked her for a drink. But the real reason he was at the well was that she needed a drink—not from the well, but from the living water that only He could provide.

The prophet Isaiah spoke the heart of God when he wrote, “Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost! Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food! Pay attention and come to me! Listen so that you can live! Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David (Isaiah 55:1-3). As God’s prophet, Isaiah appealed to all who recognize their need for a relationship with God to come to him, because he is available. A real relationship with God is available, and it does not cost anything. It is free because the God of the Bible does not need anything that you and I might own, because he owns everything. So, we have to approach God and ask for this great gift on only one basis. We need it, and God offers it on the basis of his divine grace.

Jesus’s encounter with the woman at the well repeated the same message. He used the imagery of thirst because it was a clear metaphor for what this woman was truly facing. She had many men over time, but she had no husband. She was an outcast, never fitting in, which is why she chose to go to the well during the heat of the day when no one else would be there. She had a whole village around her, but she was lonely. What happened when she decided to listen to her thirst? She chose to drink from Jesus Christ himself, the Messiah. Suddenly, she was satisfied—so much so that her attitude changed completely. She became an evangelist, urging others in her village to come and see Christ as well.

When Jesus stood and spoke at the Feast of Tabernacles, he made the same invitation to everyone who would listen. He said if anyone was thirsty, they could come to him and drink. The truth is, we are all thirsty for this, whether we think we are or not. When John commented on Jesus’s statement, he said that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit. He took it as a reference to the miracle of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit appeared visibly and the church was born.

But I want to ask a fundamental question here because someone might assume that now that we are living post-Pentecost, the Spirit has arrived, and the church has been established, the offer no longer applies. My question is this:

Are you feeling needs you cannot meet?

I’m not asking if you have ever asked Jesus into your heart. I’ll assume most of you did that a long time ago. I’m not even going to ask if you have ever had any experience with the Holy Spirit in your life. Most of you can probably recall a time when the Holy Spirit spoke to you clearly and made a difference in your life. My question is more about all the doors to your house that you might not have thought about opening to God. I don’t know about your home, but I know that in my house, I have rooms I keep more presentable because they are rooms someone might reasonably enter. I also have rooms that are mainly for storage. I don’t spend much time making those rooms look nice because nobody sees them.

Our spiritual lives can become that way, too. We might keep up a respectable religious appearance that everyone notices, but there are parts of our lives we choose not to share with others because doing so might bring us shame. That’s why my question is quite open-ended. “Are you feeling needs you cannot meet?” Some of us might have a strong Christian life in most areas, but we might still have areas where we haven’t allowed God access. We might have needs that we have always considered too shameful to seek God to fulfill. A follow-up question might be:

Are those needs giving you a thirst for God?

If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us would admit that we rarely consider letting God handle many of our deepest needs. He is holy, and many things that truly disturb us we see as unholy, even profane. We’ve learned to compartmentalize ourselves. We tell God he can have us for an hour or two on Sunday, but the rest of our time is reserved for someone else. Could it be that the reason we’re still thirsty for the same things after all these years in Christ is that we refuse to trust him with those needs?

Isaiah challenged all of us to seek the LORD while he makes himself available; to call to him while he is nearby! He said that the wicked refuse to do that because it would mean abandoning their lifestyle and their plans. Here, he identifies the root cause of the lack of revival in 21st-century Christianity. God does not revive us because so much of the way we live reflects a dependence on something else besides the Holy Spirit. It does not have to be a bad thing in itself. All it has to do is take the place of the presence of God in our lives.

I’m reminded of the story of the little boy in Sunday School. His teacher asked him what is gray, lives in trees, and collects acorns. The boy said, “I know the answer is Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.” Our problem is not the same as that little boy’s problem. We don’t know that the answer is Jesus. We have all these needs that we are looking for the answer to, but we think those needs are off limits to Jesus. But Jesus himself proclaimed that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus calls for all who thirst to come to him.

From the most fabulous kings to the lowest servants, we all need an active relationship with God. It’s what we thirst for even when we don’t realize we’re thirsty. But now and then, one of us becomes like David in today’s psalm. We finally recognize that we long for God himself—our souls hunger for him.

The thing about thirst is that it makes you look outside yourself. You might go through your day, handling everything you need to do, but then you start to feel thirsty. You can’t convince yourself to ignore it. You can’t wish your thirst away. Your focus simplifies. Water is what you need, and your eyes turn toward finding a water source. You decide to obey your thirst – not for Sprite, but for God.

The 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal spoke about a God-shaped vacuum in every person’s heart. Augustine prayed, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” That is why we all thirst for God. His creation reveals His existence, and His word shows what He desires. Every day, you and I meet people who live anxious lives, searching for something they don’t fully understand. But we have met the Savior, and He is what they need. We have the living water within us, and they are dying of thirst.

LORD, teach us how to share your Holy Spirit with our thirsty world.

jeffersonvann

Leviticus 14

Leviticus 14

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Leviticus 13

Leviticus 13

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Leviticus 12

Leviticus 12

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Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11

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ARE YOU THIRSTY?