Archive for February 2024

Leviticus 26-27; Psalm 47; Matthew 21:12-22; Acts 28:17-31 Leviticus 26-27: Leviticus concludes with promises and warnings. Undergirding all is the sovereign plan of God to use his people to bring in a Redeemer that will finally rescue his people from their sin. “I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I…

Leviticus 24-25; Psalm 46; Matthew 21:1-11; Acts 28:1-16 Leviticus 24-25:   These chapters begin with regulations for worship—the lamps and the bread (24:1-9)—and then are interrupted by an event where a man whose father was an Egyptian and whose mother was an Israelite got into fight with another Israelite and in the tussle ended up blaspheming…

Leviticus 21-23; Psalm 45; Matthew 20:17-34; Acts 27:27-44 Leviticus 21-23: Leviticus 21 explains how the office of priest does not exclude him from having to have both real and ceremonial holiness, and in fact the standards are higher for him and his family. It also stipulates exactly what degrees of next of kin can eat…

Leviticus 18-20; Psalm 44; Matthew 20:1-16; Acts 27:1-26 Leviticus 18-20: These chapters obviously have some tricky elements to them, and it is worth reading them in a slightly unusual way in order to be able to unpack their meaning. Start with the end in mind! If you look at verses 22 to 26 of chapter…

Leviticus 16-17; Psalm 43; Matthew 19:16-30; Acts 26:19-32 Leviticus 16-17: Now at last we come to slightly more familiar territory! The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, a special fast day, where God’s people are to have their sins “atoned,” or paid for, the punishment that they deserve is taken, as…

Leviticus 14-15; Psalm 42; Matthew 19:1-15; Acts 26:1-18 Leviticus 14-15: Once again we are diving into the precise regulations for maintaining healthy communal living in a tight-knit, ancient society, immersed at a time without modern medical procedures, modern plumbing or building materials, and the like. Various skin diseases could easily spread; mold in houses could…

Leviticus 11-13; Psalm 41; Matthew 18:15-35; Acts 25:13-27 Leviticus 11-13: Part of the difficulty with interpreting these laws as contemporary followers of Jesus is that the situation then was not only so different from today—a large nation, on the move, in camp, without modern medical techniques, where problems with sanitation and “cleanliness” must have been…

Leviticus 8-10; Psalm 40; Matthew 18:1-14; Acts 25:1-12 Leviticus 8-10: The details of these sacrifices continue to be explained so that all is done “as the Lord commanded” (8:4, 9, 13, 17, 21, 29; 9:7, 10; 10:15). That emphasis on doing as God says, according to his word, is emphasized over and over again throughout…

Leviticus 5-7; Psalm 39; Matthew 17:14-27; Acts  24  Leviticus 5-7: We now have descriptions of the burnt offering (Lev. 1, 6:8-13), the grain offering (Lev. 2, 6:14-18), the sin offering (Lev. 4:1-5:13, 6:24-30), the guilt offering (Lev. 5:14-6:7, 7:1-7), the ordination offering (Lev. 6:19-22), and the peace offering (Lev. 3, 7:11-21, 28-36) (7:37). These are…