Leviticus 1
Dear RTB’ers,
We begin the second year of our three-year journey in Search the Scriptures. I’ll be doing something different this year. It was my plan last year that all of us would read the readings and that you would work the questions in STS while I went off on my own with my comments independent of the STS questions, thereby offering my own thoughts in addition to what you had already worked on. Frankly, in so doing I felt a big disconnect with the rest of you. That disconnect revealed itself with the too-few comments from the rest of you on my posts or on your STS questions. So, something different this year – my new plan is that my post will be a direct response to one of the STS questions. I’ll be more plugged in that way and I’ll hope for more interaction.
So today’s first question – the two outstanding features of the burnt offerings. Their verse suggestions answer the question for us: (1) a male without defect and (2) body parts washed with water. Answering the question is straightforward, but let’s look a few thousand years down the road. The only “male without defect” in all of human history is Jesus. He was born sinless and remained so His entire life. That is, in just the first three verses, Leviticus already points us to Jesus. Second, “washed with water” looks forward to Baptism – our own dunking or sprinkling that signifies a new life – one of only two sacraments universally recognized by the church worldwide.
So, how about that second question…??
The STS intro tells us the importance of Leviticus: “It provides us with a background to all the other books of the Bible.” I’m really looking forward to 2025!!!
Blessings!
That sounds like a good plan, Fred. I expect that your new approach will help us all engage with STS — and thereby with the Scriptures — more fully. And I hope that means that we will all do our part in building one another up through ongoing conversation.
As for Leviticus, I suggest that it may be helpful to look back at the end of Exodus to refresh our memories for context. To that end, see January 29 (2023) / Exodus 38-40. And then for further introduction to Leviticus see January 30 (2023) / Leviticus 1-6:7.
By the way, and by way of initiating more conversation in this new year, I would not answer STS‘s first question for today in quite the same way as Fred did. I would say that the two outstanding features of the burnt offering are (1) offering a male without blemish; and (2) burning all of it (i.e., using nothing as food for either the priest or the giver). (I might also note that the result is “a pleasing aroma to the LORD.”) We clearly agree on the first point. On the second, Fred’s answer points us toward baptism. My answer points toward total devotion, both in regard to Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross and in regard to how we should be totally devoted to the Lord in our own lives. Who is right here? I’m pretty sure we both are! 🙂
So how about the rest of you? Any other thoughts or perspectives?
I like your answer to the second feature, John, both aspects of that second feature: “all of it” and “a soothing aroma”. I think those two features have more to do with the “burnt offering” than the entrails and legs being washed with water. Good answer!
Folks, join in!