Thursday, April 27th 2017
CONSECRATE YOURSELVES, YOU SHALL BE HOLY
key verse: 20:7
Today, we learn about new moral codes and prerequisites concerning priests and offerings. We must consecrate ourselves in regarding the Lord as consecrated, just as he had consecrated his people who obeyed him.
1. You will turn away from idols (20)
God warned Moses that those who worshipped Molech would be punished by death, they and those who supported them. The same for wizards and mediums. Cursing parents, adultery, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, whatever the difference in degree (burning, childlessness), will be punished, for it is infamy, horror and confusion. The land vomits these things and God is disgusted by them.
2. The priests will not make themselves unclean (21)
Contact with a dead body makes one ritually unclean. Except for their close relatives, priests must not touch the dead. Their holiness is necessary because they offer sacrifices to God, who is thrice holy, and on their heads is poured the anointing oil. In their private life and in their mariage, they must be without fault. Their physical appearance as well. Here, we must see things from God's point of view and not from man's.
3. Abstain from consuming offerings (23)
The guests invited to the meal must be clean. Touching the dead or eating a torn animal will make one unclean. Foreigners may not eat, though bought slaves may eat, and this is by grace. If unclean priests eat, they bring the fault on the people. The offerings must be without blemish, like the priests, and this must, as usual, be understood from God's point of view.
Prayer: Lord, protect me from impurity, so that I can approach you
Bottom line: consecrate yourself and be holy, for I make you holy
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