READ IT! - Introduction to Leviticus 8-13

Readings for this week

Monday: Leviticus 7

Tuesday: Leviticus 8

Wednesday: Leviticus 9

Thursday: Leviticus 10

Friday: Leviticus 11

Saturday: Leviticus 12

Sunday: Leviticus 13

Introduction to Leviticus 8-13

Chapters 8-10

After all these laws about offerings, we then get a short little story about the anointing of Aaron and his sons.

God chose Aaron and his sons – Nadab and Abihu – to be priests. They were to be God’s representatives for the people. However, shortly after they became priests, Nadab and Abihu went into the Tabernacle and offered “unauthorized fire” to the LORD. And Fire came out from the LORD and consumed them.

The text says that the priests were not allowed to mourn for those whom “the LORD had destroyed by fire;” only normal people could mourn for them. After this tragedy, Moses presents some new laws about alcohol and priests... perhaps implying that what happened here was that Nadab and Abihu got drunk on the job and fell into God's fire...

Chapter 11

After that pleasant little story… we get to hear all about kosher laws and what are considered to be “clean” and “unclean foods.”

First, you're allowed to eat things like:

Cows
Sheep
Goats

But you shouldn’t be eating…

Camels
Rabbits
Pigs

It’s okay to eat…

Chicken
Quail

But not okay to eat…

Owls
Bats

It’s okay to eat…

Locusts
Crickets
Grasshoppers

But it’s not okay to eat…

Beetles
Flies
Gnats

Also… don’t eat weasels, rats, geckos, monitor lizards, chameleons, etc…

Chapters 12-13

We then get into “Laws of Sanitation,” such as “purification after childbirth,” where we learn that having a child makes you sanitarily “unclean,” not sinfully “unclean.”

And that the mother is unclean for seven days if she has a boy …and the boy is to be circumcised on the eighth day… but for some reason, the mother is considered unclean for a longer period of time if she has a girl…

We also get some lovely regulations about “defiling skin diseases.” where we learn that diseases make you sanitarily “unclean,” but not sinfully “unclean.”

And we learn about… different kinds of sores… and different kinds of baldness… and that if you have a skin disease you should wash your clothes, shave your head, and stay away from others.

We also get some wonderful regulations about “defiling molds,” where we learn that moldy things are sanitarily “unclean,” but not sinfully “unclean.”

And we get basic test questions like…

Does the cloth have green or red mold?
And is the mold spreading?
And if it is… burn it!
Also… don’t forget to wash your clothes.