The law is now passed down to the Israelites from on high, but if one thinks that the Ten Commandments covers it all, think again. This is one tough book to get through as it lays down the rules, regulations and protocol for the many different types of offerings that the Lord required of his people. There is the burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship offering, sin offering, and guilt offering. There are rules for the priests, definitions of clean and unclean foods, purification after childbirth, rules regarding infectious skin diseases, mildew, (yes, mildew) discharges, sexual relations, punishments for sins, and rules about the Sabbath which included a Sabbath for the land. And then there are the feasts: Passover and unleavened bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. The concept of the Year of Jubilee is also introduced.
The impression is one of being overwhelmed. How on earth the people kept this all straight is beyond me, and yet, if they did not follow everything to the letter, often the consequence was death, or at least being cast out from among the people.
The Old Testament points to a Saviour, a saviour from sin and death, and just as importantly a saviour from the law. And yet, when Christ came, he was expected to be the saviour from the oppresive ruling Romans.
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1 comment:
The point being that we need the whole counsel of God rather than isolated books, chapters, and verses to understand it's meaning for us today.
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