God Establishes a Holy People

Day 8; 90-day Bible read-through, Leviticus 4-16

The first of these chapters speaks of unintentional sin. The following are addressed, and the offering needed to make atonement for each. "(A Person, the Congregation, or a Ruler) has sinned, and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord his God in anything which should not be done, and is guilty, 23 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him." These are not moral issues but issues dealing with clean and unclean things that an Israelite might have trespassed in without knowledge. We are looking at ceremonial issues that made them unclean.  Most of these chapters speak only of ceremonial uncleaness, dealing with going to the tabernacle. If you read chapter 10, you will see how God deals with issues of moral sin.

What makes this interesting is God doesn't dismiss their guilt because they sinned unintentionally. He expected that the person or people would acknowledge their sin and do what is right to be atoned for, when they discovered they had sinned. I don't know about you, but I remember as I raised my children, one would come to me and say, "So and so, knocked over my toy when they walked by. I asked her/him to pick it up and say sorry." The unintentional "sinner" would argue, "I did not do it on purpose." I would address them, "I know you did not do it on purpose. It has been brought to your attention that you are guilty of knocking over the toy. I would like for you to acknowledge that you did it. You can even say, 'It was an accident.’ Then you need to ask your sister/brother for forgiveness for knocking it over." That was a complicated lesson to teach because the guilty party did not do it intentionally, so they did not understand why they needed to be forgiven. Don't let me tell you how I taught them the difference between manslaughter and murder in the second and first degrees when acknowledging the toy accidentally knocked over was like pulling teeth.

God does not spare the guilty. The ceremonial unintentional sin, is a different issue than moral sin. I want to make it clear that we are not talking moral sin, or rebellion. Again, in these Leviticus chapters we are n0t addressing moral sin/rebellion. God established a national identity with Israel, He also required a faithful people—people who did not inquire over the whys and hows of a thing but honored that He addressed an issue and then obeyed the command. Obedience was the way national identity was formed. In this theocratic system of governing, God was the Lord, Leader, and Commander of the people.

Leviticus can get us all twisted and turned around for its complex issues. There are big scientific arguments over the validity of the Bible because what God calls insects are not what science has proven to be insects, and birds are categorized differently today. "If the Bible were true, then why are there seemingly scientific errors in the mundane?" The skeptic asks. I will offer you opportunities to investigate those issues on your own. Today, my goal is to remind us that the overall reason we have Leviticus is so we understand, not the minuscule details of each command; it is so we know that as Lord and Governor of a people, God would order their steps. He wanted a loyal people who denied themselves to follow a Holy God. In following a Holy God, they'd become a holy people. After experiencing how God rescued them from Egypt, they should be a willing and obedient people, and if so, they'd eat the fruit of the land. Even if they couldn't eat all the animals, insects, or birds.