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Today we return to the Wilderness of Sinai, where Moses and Aaron are receiving additional instructions regarding life for the Israelites.

If you can, imagine these commands as a series of concentric circles.  In the very center is that which is holy – set apart, devoted to God.  In the next ring is that which is “clean.”  Not holy, but not unclean.  Outside of this is that which is unclean, profane.  Cleansing something or someone makes them clean.  Sanctifying them makes them holy. 

This is physically represented by the way the Israelites set up camp.  The Tabernacle, where God’s presence rests and where worship is performed, sits in the middle.  The Israelites then pitch their vast tent city in a circle around the tabernacle.  All that is unclean, including human waste, garbage, and all that is labeled “profane,” goes outside the camp. 

As we read the commands concerning whether animals are suitable for food, and we’ll read today regarding the treatment of leprosy, every aspect of life was designated into one of these categories: holy, clean, or unclean. 

Keep all this in mind as we dive into the treatment of ailments of the skin and clothing in chapter 13.  The word “leprosy” here is used to cover a generic array of skin ailments – ranging from disease to injury – which is why they’re all treated differently.  The same is true of the various “leprosies” that could infect fabrics. 

One thing to watch for is that it may not be the disease itself that causes someone to be “unclean.”  Pay attention to how someone is treated if they have leprosy over their entire body.  This is another indicator that these laws have more to do with “set-apartness” than with public health. 

At the end of chapter 14, the LORD gives instructions on how to purify an unclean house.  As with skin diseases, “leprosy” of a house included an array of mildews and fungi that could infect them.  However, pay attention to this embedded promise: you won’t be living in tents forever; someday you will have houses to clean! 

Our verse for this week is Romans 5:6: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Leviticus chapters 13 and 14.  Now let’s read it!

You are now almost halfway through the book of Leviticus. For many, this is different and difficult stuff. Hang in there. This, too, is the word of the LORD.

Yesterday, we watched the completion of a long narrative cycle: the LORD issues commands, Israel responds to those commands, and the LORD affirms His approval. I’ll remind you of how unique this all is in the ancient world.

Israel’s contemporaries worshipped their gods primarily through trial and error. These gods did not give details about what pleased them, and the instructions they did give were just as flippant and capricious as the divine world they inhabited. That this God who had claimed Israel– Yahweh, or, the LORD – would reveal so much was a comfort, not a terror.

This uniqueness continues as the LORD speaks – now to both Moses and Aaron – concerning His expectations for daily life. Chapter 11 outlines the animals that can and cannot be eaten. There are many commentaries on what these animals symbolize and the characteristics that divide clean from unclean, but we’ll do no speculation here. I simply encourage you to pay attention to how the LORD constantly reaffirms that He is “the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

Not only are categories drawn around different types of animals, but there is also a recurrent theme of how dead animals are to be treated. It’s tempting to think practically about this: dead animals are gross, so of course touching them is gross. However, distinctions between “clean” and “unclean” have less to do with being gross than with how the LORD expects His people to distinguish themselves. It’s not (primarily, if at all) about passing germs, but about being able to participate in worship and community life.

Carry this thought into chapter 12, where we will see instructions for acknowledging the birth of a child. Consider how the theme of the importance of blood influences these purification laws. Listen, again, to how cleanness and uncleanness are discerned in every square inch of life.

For a final time, we’ll read together Hebrews 11:29: By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

Leviticus chapters 11 and 12. Now let’s read it!

At the end of Exodus, the author remembers the first Israelite New Year when the tabernacle was erected in the Wilderness of Sinai. Now that the basic instructions for the sacrificial system have been transmitted, the time has come to officially purify and commission the priests to superintend that tabernacle.

Chapter 8 begins the only real narrative in the book of Leviticus. It is not an accidental tangent, but, rather, the natural next step in a cycle we’ve seen before. In Exodus, the LORD issues the covenant (20-23), Israel affirms it (24:1-3), and then the LORD responds by revealing Himself to the seventy elders (24:9-10). Later, the LORD gives designs for the tabernacle and priestly garments (Exodus 25-31), Israel responds by manufacturing them (35-40), and then the LORD’s glory descends (40:34-38).

Now that God has instructed the priests in how they are to maintain worship before the LORD, the time has come for them to respond. Each detail of the commissioning service is carefully recounted as Moses outfits Aaron piece by piece: the coat and sash; the robe and ephod; the breastpiece with its tools of discernment; the turban, the gold plate, and the holy crown. Listen again to the reassurance that all is done just “as the LORD commanded Moses.”

The table is now set for Aaron to make the first offering of atonement for the people of Israel. Again, the details follow “all that the LORD had commanded.” The suspense builds to a climax at the end of chapter 9, as now the only question is how, or whether, the LORD will respond.

Immediately following the commissioning service is a moment of tragedy. The text asserts that two of Aaron’s sons did that “which the LORD had not commanded them,” even though we’re not exactly sure what that thing was. Watch as Moses guides Aaron through his response, and as they both negotiate their way through the intricacies of this new world.

Hopefully, you’ve almost memorized our verse for this week, Hebrews 11:29: By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

Leviticus chapters 8 through 10. Now let’s read it!