Leviticus 22 – Discretionary giving

“Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the LORD to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the LORD the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as an offering made to the LORD by fire. You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow.”

The offerings that were required had to be free of defect. The additional discretionary giving was allowed to be deformed or stunted. Suddenly I don’t feel so bad for donating those cans of green beans to the food pantry.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chapter X

At the termination of this interview, Benjamin wandered dismally upstairs and stared at himself in the mirror. He had not shaved for three months, but he could find nothing on his face but a faint white down with which it seemed unnecessary to meddle. When he had first come home from Harvard, Roscoe had approached him with the proposition that he should wear eye-glasses and imitation whiskers glued to his cheeks, and it had seemed for a moment that the farce of his early years was to be repeated. But whiskers had itched and made him ashamed. He wept and Roscoe had reluctantly relented.

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Leviticus 21 – Forsaking your in-laws

“A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother, or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband– for her he may make himself unclean. He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.”

When we are called by God to follow Jesus, sometimes we are asked to set aside some of our earthly relationships. Are we willing to do what God demands of us?

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Leviticus 20 – Do not turn a blind eye

“The LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him. I will set my face against that man and I will cut him off from his people; for by giving his children to Molech, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and they fail to put him to death, I will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech.”

God gave a command that the people are to worship no other gods; anyone found to worship other gods is to be eternally separated from the community by death. God then expanded on this command to say that any of the people witness the worship of other gods then the witnesses are implicated in the guilt of the worshiper.

In our church communities we have a responsibility to our fellow Christians. We are to build one another up in faith, but we are also to hold one another accountable. When we turn a blind eye to another’s sin and pretend it does not exist we are damaging the entire church community and committing a sin. When we witness the sin of our fellow Christians we need to address it with them, otherwise we implicate ourselves in their sin.

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A Prayer

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing
mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we,
running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of
your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen.

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Weekly Meanderings

Here’s some stuff I came across this week…

Have a great weekend!

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Leviticus 19 – Levitical Welfare

“Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.”

This is my favorite law in all of Leviticus. The landowners and the wealthy were to leave odds and ends behind in their fields so that the poor and downtrodden could find food.

This is an amazing form of welfare. The well-off are required to sacrifice for the good of the community. At the same time, those in need are not given a handout, but must work to earn their sustenance.

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Ode to Autumn by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease;
For Summer has o’erbrimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river-sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

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Leviticus 18 – The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God.’”

The religion of Israel was completely different from the religion of the surrounding nations. God was declaring that they were not to become synchronists and let the foreign gods invade their worship. The people were not to worry about demons and witches; they were not to worship angels and fertility gods. They were to know and worship God alone. God was responsible for blessing, protecting, defending, and leading. The people were to leave the pantheon of foreign gods alone out of respect for their monotheistic God.

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Leviticus 17 – The sanctity of non-human life

“Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’ So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’ When any person eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or an alien, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; then he will become clean. But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear his guilt.”

I suspect that part of this purity was established to emphasize that God created all of creation. The animals were a “good” part of creation just as much as man. Too often we fail to recognize the sanctity of non-human life. We need to respect all that God created.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chapter IX

One September day in 1910–a few years after Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, had been handed over to young Roscoe Button–a man, apparently about twenty years old, entered himself as a freshman at Harvard University in Cambridge. He did not make the mistake of announcing that he would never see fifty again, nor did he mention the fact that his son had been graduated from the same institution ten years before.

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Leviticus 16 – God bless the scapegoat

“Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness…’Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.’ And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.”

I once attended a worship service where we all wrote down our sins, gathered them together, and burned them. We should probably do that more often.

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Leviticus 15 – Purity and proximity to God

“Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.”

Why was ritual cleanness so important that God gave the people of Israel the book of Leviticus? This verse sums it up. God’s earthly resting place, the tabernacle, was to be established, setup and maintained among God’s people, the people of Israel. As one moved closer to the proximity of God there was a greater requirement for ritual purification.

The only one would could enter the actual tabernacle was the High Priest, and that only once a year after extensive purification rituals. The only ones who could present sacrifices to God were the priests who were established as a separate class with special purification rituals. Before the people could come before the priests they needed to abide by certain purification rituals. The people as a whole needed to live by certain purification rituals.

There are concentric circles of purification starting with the people, who must maintain a cleanliness code. Then the worshipers who must maintain a stricter code. Then the priests who must maintain still a stricter code. Then the high priest who must maintain the strictest level of purification.

As God allowed people to move closer to him the need for purification was greater.

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A Prayer

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to
love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among
things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall
endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Weekly Meanderings

Argh! Today be “talk like a pirate” day…so find your bottle of rum and enjoy this booty I came across this week…

Have a great weekend, matey!

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Leviticus 14 – On pigeon’s wings

“To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop, and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water. Then he shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string, with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird as well as in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. He shall thus cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, along with the live bird and with the cedar wood and with the hyssop and with the scarlet string. However, he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

This whole process seems a little weird and mystical. I was good with the whole sacrificial system up until this point. God lost me a little bit whit the rules about leprosy and mold.

However, there is something that really appeals to me in the releasing of the live bird. It is as though you were releasing your disease and letting it fly away into the wilderness.

Some bright morning when this life is o’er; I’ll fly away
To that home on God’s celestial shore; I’ll fly away.

I’ll fly away, oh Glory, I’ll fly away in the morning
When I die Hallelujah, by and by; I’ll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have gone; I’ll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly; I’ll fly away.

I’ll fly away, oh Glory, I’ll fly away in the morning
When I die Hallelujah, by and by; I’ll fly away.

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The Dalliance Of The Eagles by Walt Whitman

Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)
Skyward in the air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,
The rushing amorous contact high in space together,
The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,
Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,
In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,
Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull,
A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,
Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,
She hers, he his, pursuing.

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Leviticus 13 – Hey, baldy…

“Now if a man loses the hair of his head, he is bald; he is clean.”

…at least you’re clean.

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Leviticus 12 – The first baby dedications

“When the days of [a new mother's] purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.”

I’d think a lamb and a pigeon would be the least of what we could give to thank God for the blessing of our children.

How do we thank God when we are greatly blessed? Do we just say thank you? Do we do something? Perhaps we need to more consistently put our thanks into actions.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chapter VIII

Hildegarde, waving a large silk flag, greeted him on the porch, and even as he kissed her he felt with a sinking of the heart that these three years had taken their toll. She was a woman of forty now, with a faint skirmish line of gray hairs in her head. The sight depressed him.

Up in his room he saw his reflection in the familiar mirror–he went closer and examined his own face with anxiety, comparing it after a moment with a photograph of himself in uniform taken just before the war.

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