Levitical Thoughts

It’s funny when your mind starts all of a sudden making connections in the Word. Last night somewhere between poli sci studies and the pillow I found myself reading Leviticus 6 and the words wouldn’t stay on the page. As a way of helping me remember it, I thought I’d write it down the random musings for you, and we can see whether it holds up to the light of day.

First there was verse 5 talking about making restitutions for stolen things: “he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering.” It just struck me that there is a timeliness to our dealings with God and man. Even if the stealer had the restitution ready, both people had to wait until he brought his sacrifice for worship. How often I need to be reminded that everything has its season.

Then when it is talking about bread for the priests in v 18, it makes a surprising statement: “Whoever touches them will become consecrated.” Wow, I’m used to thinking that common people who touched the holy things contaminated whatever they handled, but this time it works the other way! My mind went to David and the holy bread, and also to Christ thousands of years later who knew what was really going on there. The wonderful ways of God.

And then v. 23 “So every grain offering of the priest shall be burned entirely. It shall not be eaten.” And I thought of the Lord Jesus Christ who was consumed on our behalf and how I’m to be an offering wholly committed like him (Rom 12:1).

Lastly it just struck me how the whole burn offering system took faith. You had to bring something before God and watch it all burn away. You had to trust that the Lord would count it for something that would make you clean, “an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD.”