Through the Bible in a Year: Mark 7 Through 10

Posted on 02/15/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 7-10
Thursday, Feb. 16: Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four weeks completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark 7:1-13: Jesus Takes on the Pharisees

Jesus came to the earth for a lot of reasons. He came to teach. He came to live as an example for us. But one of the main reasons he came was to die (and rise again), with all the eternal and earthly implications of that death.

There are places where Jesus dodges direct confrontation, but once the time comes for him to die, he dodges it no longer. The Pharisees are unknowingly walking into the teeth of the Lion of God.

Jesus’ basic answer to the Pharisees is, "I could not possibly care less about your silly traditions. I am here for the Word of God, and your traditions stand as enemies of the Word." He tells them their heart is far from God, and that their worship is useless.

Mark 7:14-23: Jesus Explains the Heavier Matters of the Law

Apparently Jesus scared the Pharisees off. He called everyone else back to him, and explained that nothing going into a man defiles him. It’s what comes out of him that defiles him.

He waits until later, because the crowds are still receiving things in parables, to explain to his disciples that food can’t defile a man. Only the wicked things that proceed from his heart can defile him.

This explanation was not only against the tradition of the elders, it was against a literal interpretation of the Law. Jesus is already in full new covenant mode. Food doesn’t matter. Clean people matter. Guard your heart. Meditate on the Word of God and separate from the world so that the things that come out of you are the things of God.

Jesus did, after all, "make all foods clean" (v. 19).

Mark 7:24-30

We ran into the case of the Syrophoenician woman back in Matthew. Jesus really wasn’t sent to her. He was still sent to the children of Isreal, and it is the children of Israel who were supposed to bless the world with what they received from God. This has always been God’s pattern for his people.

But this woman would not take no for an answer, and Jesus was impressed with her faith. So he heals her daughter.

Later, after the Jews reject their Messiah and the kingdom of God is turned over to the nations so that they become fellow-heirs with the Jews, Gentiles will not go through such a hassle. They will all be called by the Gospel into the full blessings of the kingdom of God.

Mark 7:31-37: An Unusual Healing

Jesus once said that he only did what he saw his Father doing. This healing is a little unusual, involving touching the man’s tongue with Jesus’ saliva.

The Father displayed his power through Jesus however he wanted to do it, and it was rarely the same twice. Either way, the power was great, and no one could stop talking about it. More and more, there was nowhere for Jesus to go without huge crowds following him.

Mark 8:1-21: The Feeding of the Four Thousand Is Missed by Everyone

Just as Jesus had fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish, here he feeds four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish.

Immediately after, the Pharisees wanted a sign from heaven from him! They hadn’t even noticed the immense sign he’d just done in front of their eyes!

Worse, on the boat afterward, Jesus’ disciples were just as blind. Frustrated with the Pharisees, he tells his disciples to beware of their leaven, as well as of the leaven of Herod.

Instead of getting his point, that the leaven is the doctrine of the Pharisees that must not be allowed to permeate the loaf that is Israel, they begin to worry about the fact that they haven’t brought bread.

Jesus has to explain to them that bread couldn’t possible be the issue to someone who can feed thousands with a few loaves. This passage doesn’t explain that they understood, but Matthew’s Gospel does (16:12).

Mark 8:22-26: A Partial Healing

Here is another unusual healing story. Jesus takes two attempts to heal this man. No explanation is given.

Mark 8:27-38: Peter’s Revelation and Carnal Thinking

Here again we have the story of Peter’s revelation that Jesus was the Christ, combined with his attempt to rebuke Jesus for planning to die.

Jesus takes the opportunity to tell all his disciples that they had all better be ready to die. It is Christ the Lord first and foremost, even over your own life, so live like someone carrying an instrument of death on his shoulder, making his final march to execution.

Mark 9:1-8: The Mount of Transfiguration

Each time this story comes up in the Gospels, it is preceded by Jesus’ statement that some of them would see the kingdom of God come with power before they die.

Immediately afterward, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, his closest three, and they get to experience Jesus revealed in full glory, talking with departed saints.

Peter in his zeal, wants to build three tabernacles, but to God, it is enough to simply listen to Jesus. Jesus needs no lesser saints to back him up. Jesus is the Word of God in and of himself, after all. He gave Elijah and Moses their message; he doesn’t need them to add to his.

Mark 9:9-13: Elijah Must Come

Jesus doesn’t specifically say in this passage, but the coming of Elijah in preparation for the Messiah was in the form of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Matt. 17:13).

Mark 9:14-29: Jesus’ Disciples Can’t Heal the Demon-Possessed boy

Jesus’ disciples had already been sent out once by themselves with power to heal and cast out demons (Mk. 6:7). This demon, however, they could not handle.

Jesus appears a little frustrated with their lack of faith, and he heals the boy, emphasizing that everything is possible to the one who believes.

Yet at the end, when the disciples ask why they failed, he does not tell them it’s because of lack of faith. He tells them that this kind only comes out by prayer.

I believe the issue is faith. Prayer, however, and fasting (the KJV and NKJV make it "prayer and fasting," not just prayer) can be real faith builders.

Even Jesus knew it was not enough just to demand that people have faith. He could give them examples and promises, but faith is like a seed. It grows when it is properly planted and watered.

Prayer and fasting are ways to water that seed, as is living out an obedient Christian life (Luke 17:5-10). So Jesus calls them to pray and fast, not just to wish for more faith.

Mark 9:30-32: Jesus To Die and Rise Again

Spending one to three years with Jesus has probably given the apostles a somewhat spiritual approach to understanding the Law. Here, however, they are trying spiritual understandings on something Jesus meant plainly, but they just couldn’t believe. He was going to go be killed, then rise from the dead … literally.

Mark 9:33-37: Who Is the Greatest?

Jesus never had regard for the question of who would be the greatest. He always had one answer. Become the most like a child. Become the greatest servant of all. Pursue lowliness, and greatness will be thrust upon you, but you will never be given the right to pursue greatness …

Unless that is, God has abandoned you in your growth and left you to your own pursuits. Beware if God begins to let you fulfill your desire for greatness. It is much more likely to be a sign of God giving up on you than of his blessing you.

Mark 9:38-50: Tolerance and Focus

I think these last 13 verses all go together. John saw someone doing what they were doing, and he wanted to stop them.

He had lost focus. God has put in front of us what we are to do. We are not to be checking on whether so-and-so is doing it right, but we are to be doing what God has given us to do.

There are those who are not perfect. They will be rewarded anyway for supporting the true work going on by true workers. But we who feel we are the true workers, who stay close to Jesus to do his will, must beware of stumbling the little ones. The threats are harsh. Don’t let any part of you lead you astray, and if it does, get rid of it. Throw out that condemning, questioning side of you, beware of stumbling others, and stick to the path that God has called you to walk.

Mark 10:1-12: Divorce and Remarriage (Mature)

Once again, this question from the Pharisees has a context. In first-century Judaism, there were two major schools with quite opposite ideas on divorce, Hillel and Shammai.

Jesus comes down on Shammai’s side, and he gives his reason for doing so.

This passage has raised questions today because Jesus made an allowance in Matthew (19:9) that he doesn’t make in Mark. In Matthew, a man could divorce his wife over the matter of unfaithfulness. Mark gives no such exception.

What do we do with this? Some modern Christians want to throw out the exception, but that is difficult to do.

The fact is, in both Judaism and in early Christianity, if one spouse was cheating on another, divorce was a mandatory response. Otherwise you were participating in your spouse’s sin.

Thus, "the exception clause," as it is sometimes called is almost certainly assumed even where it is not mentioned.

These rules, mind you, are for Christians, and Christian churches should take them seriously. Divorce and remarriage should not be happening in the church, and most churches have no idea of the power God will dispense to save a marriage that is on the rocks.

But these rules are for Christians. There is an awful movement in modern Christianity that wants to apply those rules to the world. They want to forbid any divorced and remarried person from entering the church of Jesus Christ without ripping apart their new family because it’s the product of a second or third marriage.

Jesus is not about correcting the world. Jesus is about building a new world which he calls the kingdom of heaven. Everything that happened prior to entering the kingdom is put to death and buried.

Divorce was rampant in the Roman world, but there is no record of the church ever asking about, much less breaking up families that were on third or fourth marriages.

She will not be counted a second wife who, subsequently to believing, is the first. For it is from believing that our life itself dates its origin. (Tertullian, On Monogamy 11, c. A.D. 210)

Mark 10:13-16: Little Children

Once again, Jesus makes little children the standard for entering the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 10:17-22: The Rich Young Ruler

Here we have the story of the rich, young ruler again. He starts by calling Jesus "good teacher." Jesus immediately asks him, "Why are you calling me good? Don’t you know only God is good?"

Many believe that Jesus wanted the young man to recognize Jesus as the Son of God and to see his need for a savior. I don’t think Jesus meant it that far at all. I think he meant for the young man to realize simply that only God is good. The young man was about to appeal to his goodness for eternal life, and Jesus wanted it to sink in his brain that the young man is not good. He needs divine help.

So Jesus gives him a list of commandments. The young man is sure he’s kept all those, yet something is still lacking.

A love comes upon Jesus, says the Scriptures, and he gives the young man the honest truth. Here’s what else you have to do, go sell everything you have, and give to the poor. You’ll have riches in heaven, and come follow me.

Here, we have probably the first and only case of someone turning down Jesus’ call to follow him, and it was because of wealth.

Notice that Jesus expends no effort to talk the man out of his decision. The truth has come, and the young man has rejected it. Surely Jesus, who felt love for him, was brokenhearted, but only God himself could bring that young man to repentance.

You cannot compromise the standards of God for the sake of getting a false conversion.

Mark 10:23-31: Rich Christians

After the young man walks away, Jesus tells his disciples that it will be very hard for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The disciples are stunned. They may be getting used to spiritually interpreting the Law of Moses, but they weren’t all the way there. Riches were seen as a sign of God’s blessing under the old covenant. The Jews certainly were not understanding that there was a new covenant in which real riches were spiritual and earthly riches were a danger, dragging the heart to earthly things (Matt. 6:19-21).

Apparently the apostles didn’t really get the Sermon on the Mount, either, because they were surprised that it would be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Not applying what Jesus had been teaching them about spiritual and earthly riches, they asked, "Then who can be saved?"

If even the blessed people, the rich, can’t be saved, then how will the poor be saved? Apparently they had forgotten that Jesus had said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3).

Jesus’ answer was simple. It is impossible with man, but nothing is impossible with God.

Mark 10:28-31: What About Us Who Have Left Everything

Jesus explains to Peter that he’s really left nothing at all. He’s simply left his own life for the glorious life of the kingdom of God where there are many children, many father, many brothers, and even many houses and farms because the kingdom of God is a family in which everyone shares.

If you have never gotten to experience this, pray for it. It is supposed to be normal in the family of God, so that no one is in need, no one is without family, and no one is lonely (Acts 4:32-33; 2 Cor. 8:13-15; 1 Tim. 6:17-19).

We who valued above everything else the acquisition of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and share with everyone in need. We who hated and destroyed one another, who would not live with men of a different tribe because of their different customs, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them. We pray for our enemies, and we try to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live in agreement with the good precepts of Christ, so that they may become partakes with us of the same joyful hope of a reward from God the ruler of all. (Justin Martyr, First Apology 14, c. A.D. 155)

Mark 10:32-45: Talk of Jesus’ Death Leads to More Talk of Who Is Great

Jesus is explaining to the apostles that he is going to Jerusalem to die. Apparently at least James and John are starting to get it. Somehow, Jesus is going to reign from heaven after he dies. So they want a seat on his right and on his left.

Jesus never directly answers these questions. He is always trying to get them to never think about being the greatest again.

So he explains that the apostles are not going to rule like Gentiles. They are not going to "lord over" or "exercise authority upon." They are going to be the servants of everyone.

This is kingdom authority, and its power is infinite because it comes from God. Few there are, however, who dare to trust it.

Mark 10:46-52: The Healing of Bartimaeus

Others may be upset with those who cry out and search after Jesus, but Jesus always found compassion for them … even if he made them work a while at it. In the end, he always gave them what they asked for in faith.

Mark 10:46-52: The Bible as a Spiritual Book (Advanced)

I can’t resist pointing out here that the exact same story is told without naming Bartimaeus by name in Luke 18:35-43. Only in Luke 18, Jesus is on his way into Jericho when he heals the blind man. In our passage, Mark 10:46-52, Bartimaeus is healed as Jesus is leaving Jericho.

There’s some arguments that are made to try to reconcile this apparent contradiction. It’s been pointed out that there were two Jerichos. One was ruins from Joshua’s time, while the other was the new Jericho, inhabited, but built in a different location.

Thus, some argue that in Mark, Jesus is leaving the ruins of Jericho on his way to new Jericho when he heals Bartimaeus. Luke, meanwhile, mentions only that Jesus is on his way into new Jericho.

Reading through Mark, this doesn’t seem like a very natural reading. Worse, for me, it brings up a much bigger question.

On what basis do we care whether Bartimaeus was healed as Jesus entered Jericho or as he was leaving it?

The only reason I can think that we care is because there is a modern doctrine—not an apostolic and certainly not an early Chrihstian doctrine—that inspiration means that the Bible must be accurate in every detail, historically, scientifically, mathematically, and in every other way.

I want to question that doctrine because I believe it lays us back at the feet of a religion based on letter. The New Covenant is an attempt to save us from a religion based on letter and turn us back to the Spirit of God.

Yes, the Scriptures are inspired. As Paul says, they are profitable for correction, reproof, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

None of this changes the fact that we have entered a spiritual religion, once that is based on the Spirit and not on the letter, because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).

I believe the fight for an inerrant Bible is a fight for a Pharasaical control of Christianity by trust in the letter, which can only result in new rules, new traditions of men, and the driving of the Spirit further and further from our way of doing things.

All Scripture is "God-breathed," and if we will read it spiritually and learn from it spiritually—together, correcting each other in Christ (Eph 4:13-16; Heb. 3:13)—then we will gain the results that it offers, that we would be "thoroughly equipped for every good work," rather than thoroughly equipped for an obsession with arguments (1 Tim. 6:3-6), as tends to be the case today.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Mark 4-6

Posted on 02/14/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 4-6
Wednesday, Feb. 15: Mark 7-10
Thursday, Feb. 16: Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four week completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark 4:1-12

Just as we saw in Matthew, once the scribes insulted the Holy Spirit, everything begins to come in parables. The purpose is clearly given. Jesus is specifically hiding the Word of God in the parables so that only those to whom God revealed the truth would really hear.

The first of the parables, as in Matthew, so in Mark, is the parable of the sower, which Jesus goes on to explain to the disciples.

Mark 4:21-25: The Revealed Light

To me, the key sentence in this passage is the command, "Be careful what you listen to." You can be a careful student, to whom God will add wisdom, or you can be a careless student, and God will let you wind down into false doctrines and silly ideas.

Mark 4:26-29: The Growing Seed

This is a favorite parable of mine. Even farmers don’t understand all the growth process. We plant, and we prepare, but then we let nature do its work. Finally, we see the result of nature’s work, and we reap.

So are things spiritually. We can try to do God’s work for him, but we are mistaken to do so. We can speak the word, and then we must let the word work as it is prone to do. Once the results of the word working in a person are seen, then we can reap, leading them into the kingdom of God.

Mark 4:30-32: Parable of the Mustard Tree

This is a real picture of what’s happened with the Gospel over the centuries whether we like the results or not. Christianity has grown into a great tree, and all sorts of the birds of the air have nested under its branches, some good, some not so good.

There may be better interpretations of that parable, but this one has certainly proven true in history.

Mark 4:33-34: Everything in Parables

After the insulting of the Holy Spirit by the scribes, Jesus is unyielding. Everything comes by parables.

Mark 4:35-41: Jesus Stills the Waters

The apostles are still just beginning to get a taste of who Jesus is … and of what faith is.

Mark 5:1-20: Jesus Confronts Legion

This is a strange story by any modern standards.

I think it’s to be noted that Jesus initiated this. He was already telling the demons to come out of the man. The demons had not yet obeyed Jesus, instead the man ran to Jesus and confronted him. Only as Jesus continued, even demanding the demons’ names, did they obey, asking to go into the pigs.

They went into the pigs, and all the pigs died, but the man was left healthy. I’m not sure what to make of this other than that God cares about man more than he does about animals, a verification that the Laws of Moses have application for us as spiritual followers of Jesus, not as rules about animals and food.

Jesus also doesn’t let the newly saved man follow him, but he sends him to the Decapolis to proclaim how he had been delivered.

Mark 5:21-43

The story of Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood are tied together in all the Gospels.

Notice that Jesus notices when someone touched him in faith and was healed. He felt the power go out of him. So despite being in a crowd, he asked, "Who touched me?" When the lady confessed, Jesus didn’t worry about his own unclean status or the status of anyone else that woman might have touched. He simply told her that her faith had saved her and sent her home. He’s ignoring the rules about uncleanness we were reading in Leviticus last week in order to do this.

That is because Jesus, the giver of the Law, already knew the fullness of the Law. He wanted spiritual uncleanness avoided, and this woman was not spiritually unclean. In fact, she became spiritually clean when she touched Jesus.

Then Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter. He did not allow anyone to come except Peter, James, and John. I think this is because he wanted only men of faith with him.

He tells the mourning crowd that the little girl is really just asleep, which I think is an effort to keep word from spreading that he’s raising the dead. He then raises the girl and give strict orders to Jairus not to tell anyone.

Mark 6:1-6: Unbelief in Jesus’ Hometown

Jesus returns to his hometown, and they are full of unbelief. Jesus even marvels at their unbelief, and he can’t do many miracles there because of it.

This, of course hearkens back to the healing of Jairus’ daughter where Jesus allowed only Peter, James, and John to come along. Perhaps he was keeping the faithless away.

Mark 6:7-13: Sending the Twelve

Matthew spends most of a chapter on this sending (Matt. 10), while Mark spends just a few verses. The apostles are empowered to go and do the same mighty works that Jesus could do.

Mark 6:14-32: John the Baptist Beheaded

The beheading of John the Baptist is an evil story, and I don’t need to retell it. You just read it.

I think Jesus was saddened when he heard of it, and that is why he pulled away to a lonely place with his apostles.

Mark 6:33-44: Feeding the Five Thousand

Jesus attempt to get to a secluded place was a failure. Jesus, however, was not irritated. Instead he felt compassion, seeing all these sheep with no one to shepherd them. So he taught them until they were ready to faint from hunger.

You know the story from there. The apostles wanted to send him home, but Jesus found five loaves and two fish and fed the entire crowd, complete with twelve baskets of leftovers.

Mark 6:45-50: Jesus Walks on Water

After that Jesus sent the crowds away, and he had the apostles go before him to the other side of the lake. He was going to go in the mountain and pray, and then probably walk around the lake and meet them at Genneserat, which was a walk that would have been no problem for travelers like Jesus and his men.

Jesus, however, opted for the shortcut across the lake, which frightened the apostles to no end. He announced who he was, got in the boat, and the storm ended.

They were astonished, but Mark points out that their astonishment is a fault. They had just seen Jesus feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Why would they be surprised?

The answer he gives is that their hearts were hardened. Their hearts, for the most part, would stay hardened until the resurrection.

Mark 6:53-56: Ministry as Before

There’s no rest for the weary, they say. Once it was heard that Jesus was at Genneserat, crowds began to come for healing, and Jesus, continuing his compassion, healed them all.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Mark 1 Through 3

Posted on 02/13/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 1-3
Tuesday, Feb. 14: Mark 4-6
Wednesday, Feb. 15: Mark 7-10
Thursday, Feb. 16: Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four week completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark Introduction

Mark was considered to be Peter’s Gospel by the early churches because Mark was Peter’s companion in Rome.

Mark will seem like Matthew sped up and shortened. They cover the same subjects, but Mark covers them much more briefly, and he focuses more on Jesus’ actions than Jesus’ words.

Some of this is because of the audience. Matthew is directed at a Hebrew audience, whereas Mark’s Gospel is directed at Gentiles.

Mark 1:1-8: John the Baptist

Matthew addressed Hebrews, so he began with a genealogy, tying Jesus historically to the great men of the Hebrew faith. Mark is addressing Gentiles, so he skips the genealogies.

He begins with John the Baptist, explains who he is briefly, and transitions directly to the baptism of Jesus.

Mark 1:9-13: Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation

Here Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness are reduced to five verses. No specifics are given about the temptation in the wilderness. Mark is ready to talk about one thing, and that one thing is Jesus Christ and who he is.

Mark 1:14-28: Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry

No one explains why the disciples left everything to follow Rabbi Jesus better than Ray Vanderlaan does.

This still seems like Matthew on fast forward. Mark is just hitting the highlights. He called John, James, Peter, and Andrew, and he had power over the demons. Mark also notes that the demons wanted to reveal who Jesus was, and Jesus was not ready for them to do so.

Mark 1:29-39: Jesus’ Fame Spreads

Despite silencing the demons, his power over them led to his fame spreading anyway. After he went off to pray by himself for a while, he leads his disciples on an itinerant ministry, going through all the synagogues of Galilee.

Mark 1:40-45: Jesus Heals the Leper

Jesus does a couple interesting things here. We know that he could heal the leper with the power of just his word, but he touches the leper. We’ve just been reading in Leviticus that this makes Jesus ritualistically unclean.

Jesus sent the leper to show himself to the priest, but Jesus himself did not do so. Much like the laws about food, they were meaningless to Jesus. Food can’t make a man unclean. Jesus knew the spiritual meaning of the Law, and he was already revealing it even before he died to institute the new covenant.

He did try to get the leper to be quiet about what happened, but that was a failure. The result was that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city.

Mark 2:1-13: Jesus Heals the Paralytic in Capernaum

After a few days, Jesus tried to go home to Capernaum, but everyone heard about it. The place was so packed that four friends of a paralytic tore a hole in the roof and let the man down in front of Jesus.

Rather than become angry about the interruption, Jesus marveled at their faith. He also chose to provide an object lesson for the scribes of the Law.

Rather than simply heal the man, he first told him his sins were forgiven. Obviously, this was blasphemy to everyone present. No one was allowed to forgive sin but God alone!

So Jesus stages his object lesson. Which is easier, he asks, to say the man’s sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk home? He then heals the man’s paralysis as a proof of his authority to forgive sins.

Later, he would give that same authority to the apostles and thus to the church (Jn. 20:21-23). Jesus had said something similar about the church and forgiving sins already in Matthew 18:15-22.

Mark 2:14: Calling Levi the Tax Collector

In Matthew 9:9, Levi is called Matthew. Having two names like this was not unusual in the church. Keep in mind that these Gospels were not written on the spot, as they happened, but twenty or thirty years later.

Levi is a very Hebrew name, and most of the apostles did their work among Gentiles, or at least amongst Greek speakers. This Simon was also Peter, a good Greek name. Saul was Paul, also a good Greek name. So Levi was Matthew, and Mark will begin referring to him as such beginning in the next chapter.

Once again, this is an exceptional call Jesus is making. Tax collectors were despised as traitors and thieves. They were working for the conquerors of the Jews, and their income was whatever taxes they could collect above and beyond what the Romans demanded.

Levi walks away from his tax collecting immediately to follow the Rabbi Jesus.

Mark 2:15-17: Hanging out with Sinners

Since Levi/Matthew was an outcast, one can imagine that all his friends were outcasts, too. Jesus didn’t care. He comes to Matthew’s house, and he meets all of his friends.

This aroused the ire of the Pharisees, and Jesus simply explains that he came to heal the sick, not those who were well.

Mark 2:18-22: Why Don’t Your Disciples Fast?

Apparently, Jesus’ disciples were a little too free even for John’s disciples, not just for the pharisees. They seemed to be lacking in self-discipline.

Jesus takes the opportunity to introduce the new covenant. He excuses them for now because Jesus, the bridegroom, is with them, but he explains that one does not use unshrunk cloth to patch an old garment, nor fill an old wineskin with new wine. The changeable nature of the new wine and the unshrunk cloth will destroy the old garment or wineskin.

Real self-discipline would be coming to Jesus’ disciples, but first they had to be made into new creatures, new wineskins able to hold the new wine of his teaching. On that day, they would be able to do anything the new, expanded law demanded of them.

Mark 2:23-28: Jesus’ Disciples Snack on the Sabbath

Jesus had little tolerance when laws were used for condemnation.

Last week we read about the showbread, kept in the Tent of Meeting, that only the priests were allowed to eat. However, in 1 Samuel 21:1-6, the priest allows David and his men to eat the showbread because no other bread was available.

From this story Jesus makes the point that the laws of God are to benefit man; man was not made to benefit the laws of God.

Keep in mind, though, that the violation here is a violation of the elders’ interpretation of Sabbath laws. There were no Sabbath laws stating that a hungry person could not snack from a field as they passed by.

Mark 3:1-6: Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

Jesus takes one more shot at the Pharisees attempt to make the Sabbath more important than people.

Mark 3:7-12: Jesus’ Fame Forces Him to Preach from Boat

Jesus was becoming so famous it was difficult for him to travel. In this instance he makes a boat available so that he can sit in a boat and teach the people.

Mark 3:13-19: Jesus Chooses the Twelve

The twelve: Simon Peter, James and John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alpheus), Thaddeus (a surname, Lebbaeus was the first name: Matt. 10:3), Simon the zealot, and Judas.

Mark 3:20-30: People doubt his sanity, and the Scribes Accuse Him.

Perhaps those who spoke up were hoping for an easy target. Jesus is no easy target.

He rebuked them for their unthinking accusation, pointed out the problem with it, and then explaining that no one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit is going to find forgiveness, a statement I’m sure is directed at their unbelief concerning the Holy Spirit with which he was overthrowing satan’s kingdom.

Again, this passage about overthrowing the strong man was an atonement passage to the early Christians. Jesus entered death’s chambers through death, bound him, broke the power of death and marched free, leading forth all who had previously been captive to death with him (Eph. 4:7-9; Heb. 2:15).

In the beginning [satan] enticed man to transgress his Maker’s law, and he thereby got man into his power. Yet his power consists of transgression and apostasy, and with these he bound humans.
     So, on the other hand, it was necessary that it was through man that satan should, when conquered, be bound with the same chains with which he had chained humans, so that man, being set free, might return to his Lord, leaving satan with those chains by which man himself had been chained … that is, sin.
     For when satan is bound, humans are set free, since "No one can enter a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man himself" [Mark 3:27]. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies V:21:3, c. A.D. 185)

Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord: that good and kind Shepherd, voluntarily to lay his life down for his sheep. Just as hunters take wolves that devour sheep by using a sheep to snare them, even so the Chief Shepherd, offering himself as man to the spiritual wolves and those who destroy the soul, may make his prey of the destroyers by means of that Adam who was once preyed upon by them. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; God against the devil; not being obvious in his might, which cannot be looked upon, but in the weakness of the flesh, in order to bind the strong man that is against us [Mark 3:27]. (Methodius, Oration on the Palms 6, c. A.D. 300)

Mark 3:31-35: His Family Tries to Bring Him Home

With all the ruckus going on, it appears that even Mary and Jesus’ brothers thought it best to get things under control and help Jesus behave more reasonably.

Once again, Jesus is no easy target.

Who is his mother, brothers, and sisters? They are those of us who do his will and who stick with him through thick and thin.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Leviticus 22 Through 27

Posted on 02/10/2012 by Paul Pavao

Technical problems prevented me from accessing the site this morning, so I’m just being able to upload the commentary now!

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Leviticus 22-27.

Next week we will go back to the apostles’ writings, to the Gospel of Mark. The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Leviticus 22:1-32: Priests and Perfect Sacrifices

Again, these are fleshly laws meant to put earthly pictures in front of God’s earthly nation. Their primary meanining, however, is in their spiritual fulfillment in the new covenant, where all these laws represent spiritual things. We must learn that there is behavior worthy of a priest. We must learn that spiritually, it is not okay for us to leave ourselves weak, and crippled.

Lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be turned out of the way. Instead, let it be healed. (Heb. 12-13).

Verses like 1 Cor. 1:8 and Jude 24 tell us that God is able to bring us faultless before his throne. Let’s not carry along with spiritual diseases and weaknesses, but let us pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). God expects us to diligently free ourselves from those spiritual diseases.

There are many ways to do so. The Holy Spirit works with us, even praying for us (Rom. 8:26). We must discipline our bodies, as Paul did his (1 Cor. 9:27; Rom. 8:13). We can confess our faults to one another and pray for one another, and we will be healed (Jam. 5:16). All of us should be giving thought to how to provoke one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:24) because we can’t do without the exhortation, comfort, and encouragement that we get from one another (Heb. 3:13).

We have all these tools, but most of us don’t realize how important it is that we use them. We can really become divine children of God, living like those great spiritual men we’ve read about like Joseph! (2 Pet. 1:3-4). We must only believe that we have really entered the new covenant of God where each one of us, down to the lowliest handmaiden and servant, receive the Spirit of God and hear his voice! (Acts 2:18).

Leviticus 22 is a reminder. God has already said all this in previous chapters, but he says it again. We should take heed to it. We are to live like holy people, like people in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and we should take heed to our lives to honor God and not ourselves.

Leviticus 23:1-44: Feasts of the Lord

I said in a previous commentary that the sons of Israel had to appear before the Lord, wherever the tabernacle was stationed (that is, until Solomon’s temple was built), three times per year. I didn’t get the feasts right, however.

This chapter straightens that out. The first feast is Passover, combined with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This occurred in the first month, and it was a feast of great rejoicing for it represented their deliverance from Egypt.

The second feast was Pentecost, a word that means fifty (v. 16). It referred to fifty days, seven Sabbaths plus a day, after the waving of the first sheaf of the year dug up from the ground in the first month of the year. (Israel’s first month, Abib or later Nisan, fell in the early spring.)

The third feast was in the seventh month. There was an announcement of the month with trumpets, and then on the 10th of the month was the Day of Atonement. This was a day of repentance, rest, and affliction of the soul. It was followed, however, by the Feast of Booths on the 15th of the month, which was another time of great rejoicing. There, they remembered their travels through the wilderness and gave thanks for the land that God had given them.

Each of the feasts had their own special sacrifices. Eventually, as we finish the Torah, we will see that there were daily sacrifices, morning and evening; weekly sacrifices for the Sabbath; monthly sacrifices associated with the new moon; and yearly sacrifices associated with the feasts. When Israel was running well spiritually, they did all these things, and the phrase "Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts" (or "feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths") became a reference to these days of special sacrifice. You’ll find the phrase used in: 1 Chr. 23:31; 2 Chr. 2:4; 2 Chr. 8:13; 2 Chr. 31:3; Ezra 3:5; Neh. 10:33; and Ezek. 45:17. God complains about those weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices being done in pretenses in Isaiah 1:14 and Hosea 2:11.

I tell you that to tell you that the apostle Paul tells us that all those things, the feasts, the new moons, and the sabbaths, are all just a shadow being cast by Jesus Christ, who is the real substance of those things (Col. 2:16-17). All of the feasts, all of the new moons, and even the Sabbath day finds its fullness in Jesus, which is the reason that the early churches could say, "We keep perpetual Sabbath," (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 12, c. A.D. 155) because they knew they could live in continual rest in Christ (Heb. 4).

Leviticus 24:1-16: Strict Control

Clearly God did not intend to let things get out of hand in this new nation. When a young man cursed "the Name," the penalty was death. There was nothing unusual about such strict punishment for crimes committed knowingly, especially when it involved cursing the King himself.

In fact, if you find any of the Israelite laws unusual compared to modern times, or perhaps too harsh, you should read through the Code of Hammurabi. Sometimes it can be difficult to sort where his laws come from!

Leviticus 24:17-23: An Eye for an Eye

Most of us are aware of the law about "an eye for an eye" because of Jesus’ statement about it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:38-42). We tend to think, though, that this law means that if someone knocks our tooth out, we punch him back on the spot and knock his tooth out.

But look at Leviticus, and you will see that this is a legal process and punishment. If your eye was removed in an attack, you could take your attacker to court, and the court would punish him by removing his eye.

This puts a little different spin on Jesus’ statement, too. So perhaps Jesus is not just saying, "If someone slugs you, don’t hit him back," but also, "If you have the right to take someone to court, don’t do it. Let him go."

I’ll leave that for you to chew on, but it is clear enough that this passage in Leviticus is talking about legal proceedings, not taking vengeance.

Leviticus 25:1-55: The Year of Jubilee

God had the Israelites track Sabbaths of years. On the seventh year, they were not to plant their fields, letting them grow wild. Everyone, owner and stranger alike, was allowed to glean from the growth of those fields, and God promised he would provide enough in the sixth year to take care of any shortfall.

The Jubilee happened every seven sabbaths of years. Every 49 years, all property reverted to its original owners.

When God brings the Israelites into the Land of Canaan, he is going to dish out the land, and it is to remain dished out in that way. The Israelites could not sell their own property, they could only sell the crops from the land until the next year of Jubilee. Prices for land would vary depending on how soon it was until the next year of Jubilee, but once it came, the sale was over.

It was the same with a man who became so broke that he had to sell himself out as a slave or hired servant. He could sell himself to the next year of Jubilee, but he could always be redeemed by a relative or by himself. No Hebrew remained in service past the year of Jubilee.

Leviticus 26:1-41: Blessings and Cursings

I mentioned as we began Genesis that the Torah is a Law, a Suzerain Covenant. It has three parts:

  • What the King did for the people
  • What the King required of the people
  • The blessings and cursings for obedience and disobedience to the King

Here’s our first good taste of part three. If the Israelites obey, they can look forward to prosperous harvests, great joy, and victory over their enemies. If they don’t, then it starts bad and gets worse.

As we read through Israel’s history, we will find that they provided opportunity for every one of these curses to be carried out, but they also experienced times of the most incredible prosperity and joy.

Leviticus 27:1-34: Items Devoted to God

People, land, and animals could be devoted to God. This meant that the animal, person, or land would be put into the priests posession until they were redeemed. So, at the time that the item was devoted an evaluation was made. If the person making the offering ever wanted to redeem the offering, they would pay the amount of the evaluation plus 20%.

It is this sort of Law that allowed Samuel to be devoted to God by Hannah, his mother (1 Samuel 1:1-28).

Even with this sort of devotion, land still needed to be restored at the year of Jubilee, so evalutation was made with this in mind. God meant for the land to stay distributed the way he had distributed it.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Leviticus 17 Through 21

Posted on 02/09/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Leviticus 17-21
Friday, Feb. 9: Leviticus 22-27

Next week we will go back to the apostles’ writings, to the Gospel of Mark. The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Today’s Introduction

If you have a commentary on Thursday morning, it will be a miracle of God. I’m starting on this on Wednesday evening.

I woke up this morning completely lacking in energy, and basically, between doctor’s rounds and the taking of my vital signs, slept until noon.

After that, friends came. There is something about spiritual fellowship that empowers the body. When disciples come together to rejoice in their mutual fellowship with God, it doesn’t matter whether they open the Bible, say spiritual things, or just talk about the weather. There is just something healing about spiritual fellowship.

So I spent all afternoon with some spiritual friends, and for the moment, I am energized. I can’t eat any better than I could this morning, but I’m really looking forward to doing this Bible reading with you.

Leviticus 17:1-7: Only One Place to Sacrifice

In this passage especially you can see the relationship between eating animals and sacrificing. Sacrificing was not just a cruel way to put an animal to death, it was a sacred way to eat an animal.

God wanted all sacrifices done at the tent of meeting, so that the priests could be supplied for their work. The majority of the animal, however, was for the person doing the offering to eat.

Of course, the Law is specifically speaking about peace offerings here. Burnt offerings and sin offerings were not eaten by the offerers, but by the priests.

Leviticus 17:8-16: Rule of Sacrifice Not To Be Violated

God makes it clear that this is an important law. You can be cut off from the people of God for violating it, and it applies to the foreigner living among them as well as to the Israelite.

God also emphasized that the reason for not eating blood is that the life of the animal is in the blood.

This rule is repeated throughout Scripture, and thus we have to be aware of its importance.

Our life is in the blood of Christ. Because he died, we live. The church is the body of Christ. Thus the life we live is lived by the life of Christ, for it is Christ’s blood that energizes Christ’s body.

We are not to live by our own life, but by his life (Gal. 2:20).

Leviticus 18:1-30: Lewd Behavior (Mature)

It is not my commentary here that is rated R, but Moses’ Law itself!

These things speak for themselves.

We may be horrified by what we are reading, but if so, then let us give thanks to God for good parents and good upbringing. The nations were practicing such things, and it was a danger and a temptation to the Israelites as well.

Do not think modern times have gotten better. Lewdness in on the increase, as far as I can tell, not on the decrease, and it is not a good thing. God is the Creator of everything, and the very land itself was ejecting the nations that would be driven out by the Israelites because of such behavior.

We must pray for one another, and we must not be afraid to talk about subjects like these because not all Christians have had such good upbringings as you might have. Sexual temptation can be some of the strongest temptation there is, and the behavior of adults, even adults who are trying to be Christians, can be shocking. Let us watch over one another, and let us pray for one another.

Leviticus 18:22: Homosexuality (Mature)

Some Christians have made homosexuality such a prime sin that they have elevated it above and separated it from all other sins.

I think it must be obvious to all of us that this is not the right approach. Homosexuality is a sin, and Scripture calls it that over and over. So is heterosexuality if it is practiced outside of marriage. Do we treat an adulterer, a male-female couple who is living together, and a same-sex couple living together the same way? Do we in each case look to the Holy Spirit inside of us for how best to help them, to let the Holy Spirit convict them of their sin, but to love them like God loves them? Do we in each case make it clear that you cannot be counted among the people of God while you practice any of those lifestyles, but also walk in the Spirit of God in such a way that sinners are drawn to us as they were drawn to Jesus?

Being a truly spiritual Christian is complicated, and all of us are growing, but we cannot separate homosexuality from other sins, to make it greater or separate.

Leviticus 19:1-8: Reminders

There is nothing new in this passage. God is reminding the people to take the laws of God seriously.

Leviticus 19:13: Paying a Laborer

It is easy to put off payment to someone, then never pay them, even though we meant well. God wanted a hired person paid the same day, not kept waiting overnight.

Leviticus 19:14: Preying on the Weak

God doesn’t like it when the weak are preyed upon. Often those who bully act like they were just joking, but God doesn’t see it that way:

Like a madman who throws
Firebrands, arrows and death,
So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, "Was I not joking?" (Prov. 26:19, NASB)

Leviticus 19:18: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

This verse is cited by Jesus as the second greatest commandment in the Law (Matt. 22:39). Deut. 6:5 is the greatest. (Matt. 22:36-38). Jesus says that all of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commands (Matt. 22:40).

Leviticus 19:19: Mixed Seed and Mixed Cloth

Why would God care whether you mixed seed in your field or cloth in your clothing?

He doesn’t. But he does care that our faith is not a mixed faith. Our faith is to be pure and come from Christ alone. Mixture is one route to compromise, so thousands of years in advance, God is teaching us to have a pure faith.

Leviticus 19:20-22: Female Slaves

I can only say here that I am as horrified as you at the thought that human culture was once like this. It is Jesus Christ who infused the idea into the world that all humans are created equal and who stood up for the downtrodden. Let us spread that Gospel, and pray that everywhere a culture of slavery is continued that we might be part of putting slavery to an end.

Leviticus 19:28: Tattoos (Advanced)

Does this verse mean that tattoos are forbidden even under the new covenant? I think so, but applying old covenant laws must be done spiritually and by the church together.

A problem we have today is that most “churches” are just organizations holding meetings on Sunday and maybe a couple other days and doing charity. The church, in the Bible, is the saints in a town or city, the family of God, sharing their lives together. To them, God will reveal everything they need to know to keep them in his will (Eph. 4:11-16; 1 Jn. 2:27).

I don’t know how to restore that, but I do know that even in organizations, if it is Christians who are joined together, devoted to God, then they can bring issues like this (tattoos) before the Lord and find answers from him.

A problem we run into in modern times, is that “Christian” means so many things that it can include people who are defiant when the church believes that God is spoken. So churches rarely seek the word of the Lord together.

The New Testament knows of no such Christian.

I can only give you my opinion on tattoos, or my church’s opinion, for we are not afraid to seek God for answers. But just because I or we have an opinion on a matter like this does not mean that it applies to you in some other city or town.

So, let me give you this. If you are a Christian, in fellowship, and you’re addressing an issue like tattoos, get your closest brothers and sisters together, and seek God on the issue. But you have to be humble enough to say, "God has spoken through my friends in Christ, and even if they turn out to be wrong, it is worth it to me to obey."

Leviticus 19:32: Revere the Aged

How many of you love this command with me? A society that respects is elderly is a great society. A society that has forgotten such respect is a danger to itself.

Leviticus 19:33-34: Love the Foreigner

Even when the nation in question is God’s chosen earthly nation, they are to respect and love the foreigner in their midst.

Leviticus 20:2: "Offspring to Molech"

Molech was an Ammonite God worshiped throughout much of the Middle East, and burning children as a sacrifice to him was part of his worship.

Doing this would get you the death penalty under the Law.

Leviticus 20:1-27: Punishments for Lewdness

The misbehavior mentioned in this chapter is virtually the same as chapter 18. Here, the punishments for doing those things is listed.

Leviticus 20:22-26: Holiness

The Israelites, and God’s people throughout history, are not just to obey God’s Laws. They are associated with God. They represent him. Their actions are not just their own, but God’s as well.

Thus God expects them to distinguish between clean and unclean, and to learn his ways so that they can be "holy." Holy is not just doing what is right, it is living in such a way that you are associated with God and his ways.

Leviticus 21:1-24: Purity for Priests

It is clear that God is setting a higher standard for the priests and especially for the high priest than he is for other Israelites.

The only part of this passage that may shock us as modern Christians is the prohibition form performing the duties of a priest if the a son of Aaron is not perfect physically. This is definitely not Equal Opportunity Employment!

We must remember, however, that the old covenant is an earthly, fleshly picture of the spiritual covenant that is to come. God wants us to appear before his throne "without spot or blemish" spiritually (Eph. 5:27; Jude 24). Leaders, too, in the church, are to be blameless spiritually, though not physically (1 Tim. 3:2,10).

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Through the Bible in a Year: Leviticus 12 Through 16

Posted on 02/08/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Leviticus 12-16
Thursday, Feb. 8: Leviticus 17-21
Friday, Feb. 9: Leviticus 22-27

Next week we will go back to the apostles’ writings, to the Gospel of Mark. The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Leviticus 12:1-8: Motherhood and Purification

The time of purification for a girl was double that for the birth of a son. I’m not sure why. I looked up a couple commentaries, which suggested that because a male is circumcised, his blood is providing part of the purging.

That’s not very convincing to me, but I thought I’d pass it on.

We read here that the normal sacrifice at the end of the days of purification is a lamb, unless the family can’t afford it. This is an indication that Joseph and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were poor. They offered a pair of doves (Luke 2:24). That, of course, may have changed once they received gifts from the magi!

Leviticus 13:1-59: Laws Concerning Leprosy

Special care is taken to make sure that leprosy, an incurable disease, doesn’t set in among the congregation.

The Law speaks of fleshly things for the Israelites, but for us who walk by the Spirit under the new covenant, there are spiritual lessons. We must guard against spiritual leprosy, becoming impure before God, by watching for the first hints of impurity and compromise. James says, “Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (Jam. 5:16).

You don’t wait until the leprosy has set in. At that point, you have to be cut off from the people. You watch for signs of it, and you stop all else you are doing, and find healing, asking prayer from those around you.

Tertullian, writing about A.D. 210, takes a shot at spiritually applying some of these passages in On Modesty, ch. 20.

Leviticus 14:1-57: Cleansing Lepers and Leprous Houses

Again, preventing leprosy and mold are taken very seriously in this chapter, and very specific advice is given on how to keep that from happening.

If leprosy and mold are dangerous in the physical, how much more dangerous is spiritual decay, which affects us eternally?

The fact is, when modern problems like mold, termites, or lice arise, the treatments that will eradicate these problems often require such diligent, ongoing application that most people aren’t willing to do them. God is setting laws requiring diligent, ongoing attention and treatment of leprosy and mold. God’s physical people could be destroyed by lack of diligence in taking care of things like these.

That is just as true for God’s spiritual people today.

By the two birds, Christ is denoted, both dead as man and living as God. He is compared to a bird because he is understood and declared to be from above, from heaven. The living bird, having been dipped in the blood of the dead one, was afterwards let go. For the living and divine Word was in the crucified and dead temple [of the body], taking part in the suffering, and yet unsuffering to God.
     The bloody suffering of Christ on the cross for the salvation of those who are sprinkled with the Spirit, the water, and the blood is displayed by that which took place in the running water, in which the wood and the hyssop and the scarlet were dipped.
     Therefore the material for purification was not provided primarily with reference to leprosy, but with regard to the forgiveness of sins. Leprosy should be understood to be an emblem of sin, and the things which were sacrificed an emblem of the one who was to be sacrificed for sins. (Justin Martyr, Other Fragments from the Lost Writings of Justin 10, c. A.D. 150)

Leviticus 15:1-33

This chapter covers mature issues. I searched through my collection of early Christian writings looking for references to this chapter, and I didn’t find any, except …

A couple of them quote v. 31, with the following wording, which must be Septuagint (the original Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) wording:

Make the children of Israel godly.

It reads like this in the NASB, quoting the entire verse:

Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.

If you are going to live with God, you should live as though you live with God. Throughout this trip to the land of Canaan, we see what happens when Israel becomes idle about following God. Judgment is sometimes huge and horrific.

Here’s what the apostle Paul has to say about their experiences:

These things were our examples, to teach us not to long after evil things the way they longed after them. Nor be idolaters, like some of them. … Nor let us be sexually impure, as some of them were, and 23,000 fell in one day. Nor let us put Christ to the test, as some of them tested him, and were destroyed by serpents. And don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
     All these things happened to them as examples. They were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age have come. Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands pay attention so that he does not fall down! (1 Cor. 10:6-12)

God, in the Scriptures, does not ever dodge difficult subjects. He addresses menstruation, child birth, and the male role in child birth. In some places, the Bible is rated R!

We cannot have anything hidden from God. Our whole lives should be exposed to him, and we should put forth the effort to make sure that our lives are clean before him.

Leviticus 16:1-34: The Day of Atonement

The Day of Atonement turns up rather abruptly here, without warning. This is one of the three great feasts in Israel. All the men of Israel would appear before God three times per year in whatever city the Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting, wound up in. (Eventually, as you probably realize, this would be replaced by the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem.) There they would celebrate:

  • Passover, along with its 7 days of unleavened bread. This happened in the spring.
  • The Feast of Tabernacles (tents or booths), which was a harvest feast in early fall. We have not been introduced to it yet.
  • The Day of Atonement, later in the fall.

This was the only day of the year that anyone entered the "holy of holies." The tabernacle had two rooms in it, and the back room held the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat, which was the lid of the ark.

The writer of Hebrews has the table of incense listed as being in the "holy of holies" with the ark (9:3-4). This has caused a bit of controversy because it seems clear from the Law that the table of incense was separated from the ark by the veil of the tabernacle (Ex. 40:2-5, 26; Lev. 4:7). This page has a thorough discussion of of why that might be that I found interesting and believable.

There were very careful rules about the high priest entering the "holy of holies," so terrifying that eventually the rest of the Levites would tie a rope around the high priest’s ankle so that he could be dragged out of the holiest place should God kill him there.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Leviticus 7 Through 11

Posted on 02/07/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Leviticus 7-11
Wednesday, Feb. 7: Leviticus 12-16
Thursday, Feb. 8: Leviticus 17-21
Friday, Feb. 9: Leviticus 22-27

Next week we will go back to the apostles’ writings, to the Gospel of Mark. The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Leviticus 7:1-10: The Priest’s Portion of the Guilt Offering

The Law has already told us what portions of the sacrifices go to the priests. This passage tells us to which priests. Some portions go to the priest who offers, and some is for all the household of Aaron.

Leviticus 7:11-18: The Peace or Thanksgiving Offering

I’m pretty certain that the peace offering is an offering that the offerer could eat of with the priest. It’s a little difficult to distinguish who all the pronouns (the hes and hims) apply to, but as we read more about the peace offering, it becomes more clear than the offerer gets to eat it in fellowship with the priests and with God.

You will find as we go through the Law that God wanted his people together, reminding each other of their covenant relationship with God.

This peace offering is a freewill offering, brought by any person who wants to express thanksgiving or just devotion. For thanksgiving all the meat has to be eaten the same day. If it’s an offering out of devotion, the meat can be eaten until the second day.

Leviticus 7:19-21: Rules for Fellowship with God

The peace offering is a great picture. Basically, it’s a barbeque with the Lord God Almighty, his priests representing him.

But throughout these next few chapters, we shall see that God distinguishes between what is clean and unclean. You can take advantage of free, open fellowship with God, but only if you are clean. If you are not clean, you will be cut off from the people as soon as you eat from that peace offering.

This idea reminds me of the parable in Matthew 22:2-14. The king in that parable invited everyone to the wedding, but when one was found without a wedding garment, he was ‘bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness’ (v. 12-13).

Leviticus 7:22-27: Fat and Blood

Eating fat and blood are forbidden to the Israelites. Oddly enough, when the council in Jerusalem, some 1500 years later, meets to discuss what "necessary" laws must be kept by the Gentiles, the prohibition against eating blood is one of only four mentioned! (Acts 15:20).

Leviticus 7:28-36: Aaron’s Portion of the Peace Offering

Notice that only the breast and right thigh are given to Aaron. That’s the reason I was pretty sure that the peace offering is a sacrifice that the offerer and the priests shared together. Somehow, this aspect of free access to fellowship with the priests and thus with God seems delightful to me.

Leviticus 8:1-36: The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

Wiser men than I have found incredible spiritual meaning in the consecration of the high priests, and as you advance in your spiritual studies, it is good to study at least a book or two on the symbolism in sacrificial and ceremonial aspects of the Law.

One thing I do like to point out in this passage is that blood was applied to the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of Aaron and his sons. These things are never for no reason. God is asking Aaron to consecrate his hearing, his doing, and his walking (his direction in life) over to God. He was his own man, but now he is holy, set apart to God.

Further there is nothing easy about what God set up. It took a long time to do this consecration with Aaron and his sons, and there was a lot of beauty and color involved. There were jewels in the breastplate, a decorative belt, etc.

God does not despise ceremony! He wants the ceremony to be real and directed heavenward, but he doesn’t despise ceremony. Thus, entering Jerusalem on a donkey with a crowd shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!," was a ceremony he initiated and welcomed. The crowd at the temple, however, bent on making money, he dispersed with a whip.

One more comment. If you read last week’s reading, the last half of Exodus, then you realize how much careful description God put into the tabernacle and how very much work it took to create it.

The will of God is always worth the effort. And he will always provide the people and the grace to do what is needed (Ex. 31:2-6).

Leviticus 9:1-24: The Priest and Tabernacle Are Consecrated

This is the height of glory for Israel in the wilderness. Aaron is consecrated, and he offers all the burnt, guilt, and peace offerings that the Lord describes. At the final sacrifice, fire from God comes out of the Tent of Meeting and consumes the burnt offering, both terrifying and thrilling the people.

Leviticus 10:1-3: Disaster Strikes

I will tell you from experience that if God begins to move, and there is not some authority to prevent it from happening, then excited, selfish fools will take over the Lord’s work, effectively killing it.

There is no room among those that the Lord has called to shepherd his people for the modern "everyone means well" idea. The Lord has enemies, his church has enemies, and satan’s servants strive to look like servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15). A shepherd must be able to handle God’s authority, not create his own, and he must be able to silence those who would lead God’s sheep astray (Tit. 1:5-11).

This was not a new church among thousands in the world. This was God establishing the nation of Israel for the first time, and no one was going to jump in and guide it in their own way. When Nadab and Abihu did something that was not prescribed for them to do, he struck them dead.

Leviticus 10:4-15: Reacting to the Death of Aaron’s Sons

Moses had to tell Aaron that the congregation would do Aaron’s mourning for him. He is the Lord’s anointed, still wearing the anointing oil, he must put God first and honor God’s will above even the death of his own sons.

I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep [i.e., died]. I do not want you to sorrow like those who have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way, God will bring those who sleep in Jesus with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the returning of the Lord shall not precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess. 4:13-18)

Aaron did so.

He and his two remaining sons got on with the rest of their business and did not mourn.

We have already seen, when we read Matthew’s Gospel, that Jesus was not afraid to make similarly hard demands. That’s not strange because Jesus, being the very Word of God, was the producer of the Law of Moses every bit as much as he was the producer of the new covenant.

Leviticus 10:16-20: Oops, We Missed Something!

God can be very picky because he knows what will result in the future. We are not God. We are not prognosticators who know what someone else does tomorrow.

We are, however, children of God who can learn discernment. We can learn to recognize that men like Nadab and Abihu will completely throw the work of God off track, and we can rise up and stop them.

On the other hand, other things have little effect on the future. God is sometimes puzzlingly merciful on such issues.

Moses is trying to be a stickler for God’s commands in this passage, but with a little talk he realizes that this issue is not one to be harsh about.

Leviticus 11:1-47: Clean and Unclean

Here are the food laws. The Israelites could eat animals that chew the cud and part the hoof. They could eat fish that have fins and scales. There are specific birds listed as unclean.

Now we’ve already read that Jesus dismissed the carnal version of the food laws because nothing going into a person can defile him (Matt 15:16-20).

There are those that believe that God gave the Israelites these food rules to keep them from health problems living in the wilderness. Perhaps this is true. I have to approach the Hebrew Scriptures, though, as if they are physical likenesses of spiritual realities because that is how Jesus (Matt 5:21ff) and the apostles approached them (1 Cor. 9:8-14).

There are lessons we can learn, even about each of the birds that are listed. (Notice the bat is listed among the birds; the Bible is not meant to be a science book. There was no study of the classification of animals in Moses’s time.)

Why would we want to beware of eagle-natured men in the church? Of a vulture nature? What about the raven, or the owl?

What is true of fish with fins and scales that is not true of fish without them? Many fish without scales are bottom dwellers, feeding off refuse. We’re not to be like them.

God, apparently, did not want a people that ate bugs and centipedes. He wanted his people to have a care for how their lives reflected upon him. Why, then would grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets be an exception to not eating bugs?

This last section has some speculation in it. You are welcome to disagree with me because the issue is not to get the right answer. The issue is to be led forward in your walk with Jesus Christ, experiencing your peace offerings of thanksgiving, the freedom to go boldly to his throne (Heb. 4:16).

The issue is for each church, together, each part doing its share (Eph. 4:16), to learn from everything the Scriptures have to give them. As a church pursues a deep and practical love for God, God will always take up teaching them, and they will be able to trust his teaching (1 Jn. 2:27).

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Through the Bible in a Year: Leviticus 1 through 6

Posted on 02/06/2012 by Paul Pavao

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Leviticus 1-6.
Tuesday, Feb. 6: Leviticus 7-11
Wednesday, Feb. 7: Leviticus 12-16
Thursday, Feb. 8: Leviticus 17-21
Friday, Feb. 9: Leviticus 22-27

Next week we will go back to the apostles’ writings, to Mark. The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage that concerns your question. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Today’s Reading: A Little Exhortation

Well did you get through last week’s readings? Or did you skip some because they were "boring"?

We’ve talked about digging spiritual truth out of the Scriptures because we are a spiritual people. I think of it like mining. Sometimes I have to go through a lot of rock to get to the message(s) God has for me that day. The rest, that I missed, is every bit as much God’s spiritual message, but I’ll have to wait until my heart is softer, my brain more educated, or my soul more under discipline before I can get all of it.

Either way, I must not quit mining! God thinks what he has to say is worth our effort, and he will purposely withhold that Word from those who refuse to give the effort.

Leviticus 1: The Law of the Burnt Offering

The Burnt Offering is one sacrifice that is completely burned. The reason that one person would offer a bull, another a sheep, and another a bird is because the Israelites varied in wealth. You offered what you could afford.

In fact, one of the ways that we know that Joseph and Mary, Jesus’ parents, could not have been wealthy–prior to the gifts from the Magi, that is–is because they offered a pair of turtledoves rather than a lamb for Mary’s purification offering (Luke 2:24; Lev. 5:7).

Leviticus 2: The Grain Offering

Here we see part of the offering being left for Aaron and his sons to eat.

God is very firm about their being no leaven in the grain offerings. That is because leaven spreads. The apostles’ writings regularly refer to leaven as a thing that must found and stopped before it leavens the entire loaf (1 Cor. 5:7; Matt. 16:6-11).

For some reason God also forbids the burning of honey on the altar. Is God telling us that he doesn’t want us "sweetening" our faith to make it more palatable to others? Maybe someone has something better on that one.

Finally, he tells them never to forget the salt of the covenant in their grain. The apostles’ writings speak of salt all the time, in the sense of providing both seasoning and preservation.

Leviticus 3: Peace Offerings

The peace offerings could also be cattle, lamb, or goat. Notice, though that in the peace offering, only the kidneys, livers, and much of the fat are burnt on the altar.

The rest was the provision of the priests.

We will see as we go on that the tithe of the Israelites was not what provided for the priests. The sacrifices provided for the priests.

What did the tithe provide? I cannot wait to show you that when we get to it. The tithe and the feasts of Israel were amazing, even exciting, ways to unite a nation and take care of its poor all at the same time. Christians need to rethink their idea of a tithe.

But, that will have to wait until Deuteronomy.

Leviticus 4:1-2: Unintentional Sin Offerings

I think this chapter is easier to understand if you read v. 1-2 as an introduction. Some Bibles seem to let it run into v. 3 as one sentence, but that is very confusing.

In other words, v. 1-2 are saying, "Now, let’s talk about all the different type of people who may unintentionally sin against the Lord."

Verse 3 then says, "Okay, first if it’s the high priest …"

Leviticus 4:3-12: High Priest Sin Offering

For the high priest who sins unintentionally and brings shame on Israel, a bull is required. The sin offering is burnt as completely as the burnt offering is. None of the sin offering is eaten.

I should note here, though we’ve read it already repeatedly, that when the individual offers, he lays his hand on the head of the animal before he slays him. That is an act of identification. Either it represents sin being transferred to the bull, or it represents that the offerer is sending the bull in his place, perhaps for what he himself justly deserves.

For this sin offering, some of the blood must be sprinkled in the tabernacle. Later we’ll read that this is the reason that this sin offering must be wholly burnt, not eaten by the priests.

Leviticus 4:13-21: Congregational Sin Offering

If the entire congregation has sinned without knowing it, then when they find out, they must offer a bull. Since this is not an individual, the elders of the congregation lay their hands on the bull’s head.

Like the high priest’s sin offering, this blood must be sprinkled in the tabernacle.

Leviticus 4:22-26: Leader’s Sin Offering

If a leader sinned unintentionally, then the offering was a male goat. This sin did not require blood to be sprinkled in the tabernacle, and thus only the fat and innards of the sacrifice was burned. The priests, the sons of Aaron, kept the meat to eat it.

Leviticus 4:27-35: Citizen’s Sin Offering

If it were a commoner who sinned unintentionally, then the offering was a female goat (or lamb). Once again, the peace offering rules apply, and the meat is spared for the priests.

Leviticus 5:1-13: Guilt Offering

There are rules here about the guilt offering, but there are also statements about guilt itself, and how it builds up in our conscience. Where have we not cared, not paid attention, or cared more about our feelings than those of the person across from us?

If a person is born again, such failures build up in the conscience as a weight of guilt. While we don’t sacrifice animals to resolve that guilt, we do confess our sins to God and become cleansed (1 Jn. 1:9). For us, the death of Jesus Christ brings us into the new covenant, where sins are forgiven, and where the one sacrifice can continually cleanse the guilt of our conscience (1 Jn. 1:7; Heb. 10:19-23, but all of Heb 9 and 10 addresses the subject).

Leviticus 5:11-13: A Guilt Offering of Grain

Here is a sacrifice for those that could afford neither a lamb nor even two pigeons, a simple offering of fine flour.

It’s often taught that all sacrifices must include blood. The letter to the Hebrews says (accurately), "According to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (9:22, NASB, italics original).

Here, however, we find atonement being made with a sacrifice of fine flour.

God will forgive the sins of those who are without sacrifices. He tells the wicked through Ezekiel that he will forget everything they have ever done if they will repent and turn from their wickedness (18:21-23).

David, too, gives God true heart on sacrifices saying:

You don’t want sacrifice, or else I would bring it. You do not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, these, O God, you will not despise. (Ps. 51:16-17)

It is true that one may almost say that without blood there was no remission, but the grain offering for guilt is the reason it’s only almost.

More on Sacrifices (Advanced)

We tend to say that animal sacrifices are done away with because Jesus is the final and eternal sacrifice. It was surprising for me to find out that the early Christians thought that sacrifices were done away with because God never wanted them anyway, and they were only instituted to provide carnal men with a ritual to help them keep their eyes on God.

One of the oddest passages in the Bible justifies their position. I doubt you’ll recognize it. It’s so foreign to our way of thinking that I couldn’t believe the early saint was quoting Jeremiah accurately. I knew I had read Jeremiah at least eight times. How could I miss something like that?

For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ (7:22-23, NASB)

Really? He didn’t? Then what are we reading about today? Here it is, right here in Leviticus!

I would have covered this last week, but I didn’t have the energy to keep this blog up. But if you read the last half of Exodus, then you know that there was an original set of tablets which Moses broke when he saw the people had fallen into idolatry. It was only after Moses returned to the mountain for a new set, after the idolatry had been dealt with, that God added all these rules of sacrifice we are reading in Leviticus.

God says over and over that he hates the sacrifices of unrighteous men and unrighteous nations. He calls them an abomination and a stench. But when a man repents, and is purified, then his sacrifice is well received.

In other words, it is not the sacrifice that purifies the heart, but the heart that purifies the sacrifice!

You don’t want sacrifice, or else I would bring it. You do not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, these, O God, you will not despise. Do good in your good will toward Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then they shall offer bulls upon your altar. (Ps. 51:16-19)

Leviticus 5:14-16: Unintentional Sins Against the Lord’s Holy Things

This is the guilt offering for unintentional sins against any of the Lord’s holy things.

"Holy," in this context and most others, means set apart or consecrated. A holy jug, for example, is not allowed to be used for any other purpose than carrying water or wine for the temple and the priests.

Such a sin, even though accidental, required a ram and silver in the amount of one-fifth the value of the ram.

Leviticus 5:17-19: Unintentional Violations of Explicit Commands

Think of this as "ignorance is no excuse of the law." There were ways to become unclean or to sin in Israel that are not clearly spelled out. If it is clearly spelled out, but you didn’t know about it and did it, then that called for a ram as a sacrifice.

Leviticus 6:1-7: Guilt Offering for "White Collar Crimes"

This law is about obtaining money or property dishonestly, whether through embezzlement, lying, false business practices, or perhaps even just burgling. Restitution is to be made to the victim, along with an additional 20%.

At that point, the sinner can relieve his guilt with an offering of a ram.

Leviticus 6:8-30: The Priest’s Portion

God gives instruction here on what the priests can eat, and what they cannot eat. Again, this is not all the Levites. Only the descendants of Aaron, sort of a tribe within a tribe, are allowed to eat the sacrifices.

Burnt offerings, as well as any sin offerings in which the blood is brought into the tent of meeting, are entirely burned. Otherwise only the fat and innards are burned, and the meat become the property of the priests.

As I said earlier, the provision for the Levites is neat, too, and I love the whole approach God chose, but I’ll wait till we get there.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Leviticus

Posted on 02/05/2012 by Paul Pavao

This week’s through the Bible reading through Leviticus, which we will chew through in a week.

Mon: Ch. 1-6
Tues: Ch. 7-11
Wed: Ch. 12-16
Thur: Ch. 17-21
Fri: Ch. 22-27

Exciting goal in front of me this week! Keep Leviticus interesting! It’s one of the more complained-about books among new Bible readers. I’ll try to give hints to keep it simple and to dissect that collection of laws into something not only memorable, but worth remembering.

I’m only a day ahead right now. Tomorrow’s post is done, and I’ve moved from the "get sicker and sicker" phase of my treatment to the "get better and better phase."

That’s a way to say please pray for me. I love doing these things. It would be great to get ahead and have a couple days leeway … actually, preferably a week.

Please give me feedback! For any of you that are scared to give me negative feedback, know that I handle constructive criticism very well. I’m really not looking for, "You’re an arrogant jerk," or, "I completely disagree with everything you teach." If that’s the case, it’s more polite to just move on to someone you agree with. But, "Wasn’t that a little extreme?" or "Is it really okay to say that so confidently?" is input I’m looking for.

Your own idea that you might think is important would be great, too.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Exodus 37 Through 40

Posted on 02/03/2012 by Paul Pavao

Today’s Bible Reading is Exodus 37-40. I will join you again on Monday for Leviticus 1-5!

Overall year’s plan is here.

This Week Is Readers Week!

We’ve covered a lot in these first four weeks through the Bible, and I’ve gotten great feedback and input from y’all. Now I need some space to rest. I believe a week will let me get caught up.

You have two easy solutuons for this week:

  • Ask questions in the comments about today’s reading.</li
  • Answer other people’s questions when you see them

And I will pitch into the discussions as I am able, though I am going to be working on the following week’s blogs already.

Don’t give up on the Bible reading! That is the point, to make the Scriptures comfortable to understand (though once you understand they provide their own discomfort), so that you become practiced at loving all the Words of God, digging deeper into them, and obeying them.

So "pay it forward"; share your thoughts with one another.

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