The Bible Recap - Day 046 (Leviticus 8-10) - Year 6

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Let's talk about the difference between anointing, consecrating, and ordaining, since we saw those words a lot today. To anoint is to apply oil to something. To consecrate means you're setting it apart for sacred use. And to ordain is to establish. In this specific instance of ordaining, they're establishing someone in ministry. We see Moses anointing, consecrating, and ordaining Aaron and his four sons.

The whole process lasted seven days, and Aaron offered the very first sacrifice on the altar as a part of that seven-day ordination ceremony. This takes us roughly a week past the assembly of the tabernacle. On day eight, we have the first official tabernacle service where Aaron and his sons offered more sacrifices on the altar. In 9.6, Moses says,

"'This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, "'that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.'" God's commands are always for the blessing of His nearness and His glory. When I was reading about all of the Lord may appear to you." God's commands are always for the blessing of His nearness and His glory. When I was reading about all the stuff that God is doing to draw near to His people, it reminded me of when I travel. Once I arrive, no matter who I see first,

I usually want to tell them all the details about my trip to be near them. My flight was delayed, and then just as we were supposed to board, they changed gates and I had to run through the terminal. My seat mat smelled terrible and snored loudly and leaned on me. And I did all this to be near you.

Aren't you happy? This feels a little bit like this to me, like God is saying, look at all the provision I've made. I'm giving you animals to slaughter and I'm anointing priests to be mediators between us. And look, I know you weren't there, but I wrote it down in this book so you could read about it. And I did all this to be near you.

Aren't you happy?" And we're over here like, boring, can we just get back to the storyline please? And God is patient even with that. So here's Aaron doing his first job as high priest by making atonement for himself first, then for the people. Remember that atonement means covering.

This is to cover their sins. The order of this process is important. It starts with atoning for sin through the sin offering, then it moves to petitions and praises in the burnt offering, then on to communion and fellowship in the peace offering. Aaron blessed the people, then he and Moses both blessed the people, then came the biggest blessing of all, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came down and consumed the offering and the people lost their minds. They fell on their faces and worshiped. Praise is the proper response to all God's actions. In chapter 10 we hit an important passage. God has just established the tabernacle and all

these rules for keeping it holy and Aaron's two oldest sons decide to completely ignore God's commands and do their own thing. Nadab and Abihu offered incense in a way that was not consistent with God's orders. It could have been that they offered something other than God's special incense. Remember how he made such a big deal about that in his instructions? Or it could have been that they offered it at a time that wasn't authorized, or that they were possibly drunk when they offered it, or most likely that they offered it at all instead of Aaron doing it. And God sent fire down to kill them on the spot. This is arrogant rebellion, and God establishes right out of

the gate that he won't stand for it. Also, in keeping with the theme we've seen God establishing, the two oldest sons here are passed over. Moses had two of Aaron's cousins dispose of the bodies, since Aaron couldn't touch a dead body or he'd become unclean. Then Moses told Aaron and his two younger sons that they weren't supposed to perform the traditional grief practices in response to God killing

Nadab and Abihu for their blatant rebellion. Other people could grieve respectfully, but not them. In the midst of this, God speaks to Aaron directly, which is a rare occurrence, but is really sweet considering he just lost two of his sons. And God gives him specific orders about the way he and the other priests are supposed to be set apart. First, they have to avoid drinking on the job. The fact that this is the first command is one of the reasons some people think Aaron's two oldest sons had been drinking when they offered the incense. The priests are supposed to protect the sacred space of the reasons some people think Aaron's two oldest sons had been drinking when they offered the incense.

The priests are supposed to protect the sacred space of the tabernacle. They're supposed to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. And not only that, but they're also called to teach everyone else what God has revealed to Moses. Teaching was one of their main jobs. Moses ordered the two remaining sons to make an offering, then eat it as a gift of provision from God. But they didn't eat it as a gift of provision from God. But they didn't eat it.

And Moses was furious. These were the people who were supposed to be teaching others to obey the things God told Moses, and they couldn't even obey those things themselves. Moses may have feared that God would strike down Aaron's two other sons as well, and then the priesthood would be done forever once Aaron dies. He's old, after all. How would God keep his promise if he killed all four of Aaron's sons on the same day?

Moses is stressed out. And here's where my God's shop for today comes in. I saw God's character in Moses' response to Aaron. Aaron appeals to Moses reminding them that he does revere God's holiness, but eating the sacrifice would have been inappropriate today given how it's been uniquely stressful and troublesome. And Moses relents. This reminded me of when Moses would appeal to God about things and God would lean into compassion

instead of being strict. It's almost like all this time Moses has been spending with God has rubbed off on him. Have you seen that happening in your own life since we started reading together? Have you found yourself growing in patience and kindness and compassion? Have you seen yourself trusting him in his sovereignty and his goodness more than you did six weeks ago? Do you have more joy in reading his word than you did before we started Genesis 1? I bet you do, because here you are today in the midst of Levitical law, delighting in

Him. You know He's where the joy is. Lots of you ask us for recommendations on a study Bible or commentary. What a great thing to invest in. We put links to our favorite study Bibles and resources in our Amazon storefront. You can check them out at Amazon.com forward slash shop forward slash The Bible Recap or click the link in our show notes. Hey Bible readers, for any of us who are working to embrace the gift of singleness, whether

temporary or permanent, Hope Nation has something to encourage us. Click the link in the show notes to hear me talk about how to maintain contentment while still having hope for the future. We can do both.