Leviticus

Leviticus is in the Bible for a reason.
This is my 6th time though it, and I’m still trying to convince myself of that statement. So I paid more attention this time.

Leviticus 14 tells the Israelites what to do if their house contracts leprosy:
1. Tell the priest to examine it.
2. Quarantine the house for seven days.
3. If not healed, scape the walls clean. Quarantine again.
4. If still not healed, dismantle the house and put it in an unclean place outside the camp.

That protocol came in handy tonight. I think we shall follow these Levitical laws in taking care of this chair, minus the priest bit:

On a more serious note, I have learned important lessons from Leviticus.
– God is Holy. Holy holy holy. He demands perfect sacrifices and ritual cleanliness.
– God knows exactly how He wants us to live, and He is merciful enough to tell us.
– Sacrifice is serious business. (See Leviticus 10)
– God took care of His people before they knew about the germ theory of disease by instituting cleanliness laws. (There are at least four chapters dealing with skin disease and bodily discharges.)
– Love your neighbor. Really.

And, I think most importantly,
– It is impossible to be perfectly blameless before God. No one can keep all His statutes.
That is, after all, the ultimate purpose of the Law: to show us that we cannot come to God without His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness. Christ is the perfect, unblemished, holy atonement sacrifice described in Leviticus, sacrificed to cleanse us in God’s sight once and for all.

And that, my friends, is why I continue to read Leviticus.