Leviticus 16 Q&A
Here are some brief answers to our questions from our Sunday evening service.
If you would like to discuss more, please call me or email: bruces@stphils.org.au.
Leviticus is not an easy book to study. Some of the answers will not be able to be answered easily throughout the Q and A in this series. So I encourage you to talk with the preacher on the night if you have anything you wish to discuss in more detail. They would be more than happy to chat with you.
1. What did the Israelites do in the tent of meeting? You mentioned they worshipped there. How would what they did be different from what we do in church?
Sorry - I wasn't too clear on the layout of this area:
The people only came into the courtyard outside the tent of meeting (Exodus 27). This is where the altar for burnt offerings was located. This is where Israel came to ofer sacrifice. It was a reminder that coming into the presence of God required sacrifice. The tent of meeting was only for Moses and the high priest. And the Holy of Holies, a special area inside the tent, was only entered once a year on the day of atonement by the high priest. The people came to the courtyard to worship and bring sacrifice.
The tent was where Moses "met" with God...
Exodus 33:7-11
7Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lordspoke with Moses. 10Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
As we come to worship God today, we also come to offer sacrifice. But the sacrifice is us - living sacrifices. This is true worship:
Roman 12:1
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2. Did obedience and the sacrifices make the people right with God? Was the price paid (all be it temporary). Or was it symbolic and never had “salvation” effect?
Symbolic. The ACTUAL sacrifice that dealt with sin and paid the price for the punishment we deserved, was Jesus, once for all.
Hebrews 10:3-4
3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
This is what Jesus says about the Old and New covenants and his sacrifice:
Hebrews 10:9-10
9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
3. With what seriousness shall we treat the more obscure rules in Leviticus, and what can we learn from those rules, if anything?
Many of these rules and laws were contextual for the Israelite community at that time in that place. Many were in direct relation to other practices by other nations who worshipped false gods. None of the Israelite practices were to even resemble the practices of other false religions. Eating and cooking certain things, making clothes with certain threads - many of these things were about establishing Israel as different to every other nation - to make them stand out as different.
A comparison today - Christians may choose not to eat food offered to idols (as happens in some local restaurants). Paul says in his letters that it does not matter as these false gods mean nothing. But we should be guided by our conscience and how it may affect others around us. Jesus has freed us from many of these contextual laws. But the 10 commandments remain unchanged as the timeless measure of the law to love God and love your neighbour.
4. Is the scapegoat meant to be a celebratory departure of their sins, or a harrowing picture that their sins will lead to them too being exiled from God, or both?
A departure of their sins - God removing their sins, symbolically, as far as the east is from the west - Psalm 103:
Psalm 103:12
12as far as the east is from the west,so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
5. The ritual of this day is a profound reminder of the cost of sin. Post Jesus, are there rituals we can implement so we are humbled by our sin and his grace?
Corporate confession in our time of worship together - always a part of our worship services - and important in recognising that as a people we are sinful, not just as individuals. We need to remind each other that we need to confess and repent.
Common (Lord's Supper) and Baptism are also ceremonies/practices implemented by Jesus - both pointing to the cost of sin and the need for Jesus as our sin sacrifice and as Lord of our lives. In the Anglican church, we call these our 2 "sacraments" - things Jesus did and commands us to keep doing. Outward physical signs of an inward spiritual grace.
6. There is a Christian idea of God inviting us to come to him freely as we are, Does this conflict at all with you saying it needing to be on his terms?
It is on his terms - Jesus is the one who offers us the invitation. Without that invitation, we could not freely walk into his presence. But we must accept that invitation on his terms - to offer nothing but a contrite, repentant heart.
Here are Jesus' terms in his words:
Matthew 16:24-25
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.25For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
it is because of this open invitation that we can come to him - on his terms.
7. Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?
Romans 6 is a great chapter to read on this. It begins with that very question:
Roman 6:1-4
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
And continues:
Romans 6:15-18
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
And concludes:
Romans 6:22-23
22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We were freed from sin to become God's slaves/servants. We were nto freed from sin so we could keep on being slaves to sin.
8. How were the Israelites supposed to remember the very complicated rules and regulations?
They had a strong aural tradition. They would learn a lot of these rules by rote learning. Memorisation. A great thing to do in learning God's Word! For the priests in particular this was their job - to know it and teach it.
9. How is God in an Ark?
His presence was symbolised by the ark. He would "rest" on the ark in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. he could not show himself because his glory is too great for humans, so he manifested himself in the cloud and pillar so Israel would be aware of his presence.
In the New Covenant, he made himself human so he could live among us!
Exodus 40:34-38
34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.36In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
10. Can ‘Sin’ be explained to break the Ten Commandments? Any other elaborations of Sin
The ten commandments form the foundations for God's law. Summarised by Jesus as "Love God and love your neighbour", all of God's laws fall under these two categories. All sin falls under the breaking of these commandments.
Matthew 22:35-40
35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38This is the first and greatest commandment.39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
11. I strongly considered whistling on the Sabbath. Where should I get my goats from?
Gumtree?
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