Leviticus 1-15

This may seem like a lot to cover in one post (and I guess it is because that's over half of the book of Leviticus), but I promise it's not. Everything up until this point is all rules and regulations and sacrifices for the Israelites, and it's all incredibly repetitive.

The first seven chapters cover the different sacrifices the Israelites have to give depending on what they've done. We've got a burnt offering, a food offering, a fellowship/peace offering, a sin offering, and a guilt offering. And the priest must be used for all of them. No more making sacrifices on your own. And as I was reading the details of these sacrifices, the argument the commentary I use makes about Believers not having to obey the Law of Moses anymore starts to make more sense. Part of some of these offerings is eating. There are 7 billion people on this planet. If we still had to do these sacrifices, our priests would literally eat themselves to death. Like, the rules are clear; the food cannot be stored and hoarded and eaten whenever you want. You got one day. The impracticality of Mosaic Law alone is enough to suggest that Believers don't really need to worry about it.

Then Aaron and his two sons are ordained and priestly life begins. But Aaron's sons screw up, so God comes out as fire and kills the boys. (At least that's how I think it happened.) The sons are killed in chapter 10, and it's all a little bizarre to me. I really don't know what to pull from it all except that they messed up, and God wanted to make it very clear that what He says goes, and there is no room for leniency as the Israelites prepare for their return to Canaan.

Then we start getting into what God considers clean and unclean. We start with animals - which ones can be eaten and which ones shouldn't be touched with a 10-foot pole. Literally. Because then that pole would be unclean.

Then chapter 12 kinda threw me for a loop a little bit. It's about "Purification after Childbirth." After my first read, I was a little offended honestly. Why is a new mother considered unclean? She just spent nine months pregnant and has just gone through the beautiful process of having a child, yet she's unclean. But then that commentary I use mentioned this thing called puerperal fever. Apparently a lot of women in the 19th century who gave birth in hospitals died afterward, and apparently it was due to diseases because they didn't have the anti-bacterial things that we have today. It was actually safer for the woman to give birth at home, away from a lot of people. So it's like God knew about these threats to new moms and babies long before we did, and declaring them unclean actually protected them.

Then skin diseases and molds and stuff are addressed, and just like with childbirth, God knew about the dangers of these things way before we ever did. And God didn't just declare all of this stuff unclean indefinitely. We're also told the procedures for cleansing. God wanted to protect His people. He gave them these rules really as a device for public safety and wellness. What good are the Israelites if they all die of contagious skin diseases and mold inhalation before they ever even get to Canaan?

And lastly, chapter 15 is pretty icky and is entitled "Discharges Causing Uncleanness." I swear, sometimes I think I'm reading a biology textbook instead of the Bible. In this chapter, we're told about all the nasty, sickly bodily secretions that make a person unclean. From a man's "unusual bodily discharge" and his semen, to a woman's period, to sex... Leviticus 15's got it covered.

God's really awesome, y'all. He literally knows everything, and He cares about us. It feels good to have an all-knowing God as my go-to for literally everything.