I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians;
I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
- Leviticus 26:12-13 -
In Bible in a Year Club we are about to start reading Leviticus, and if you're doing another Bible in a year plan – Bible Recap or a plan through your church – you're approaching Leviticus as well! Tis the season. Partially due to loss of momentum that inevitably happens when people get out of January, coupled with the difficulty of reading Old Testament law, Leviticus is a popular time to just… quit.
But here's why you don't need to do that this year, and what you can do instead.
When you read Leviticus with modern eyes, it looks like a boring, long, intense list of rules from a God more interested in judgment than love. There are a lot of assumptions (and presumptions) in that sentence, but this is where many of us begin. Due to our inherent cultural bias, we struggle to see Leviticus the way the early Israelites would have seen it. Worse – we fail to see Leviticus the way God intended it, and therefore miss the grace laced through its pages.
Following are a few tips for beginning Leviticus and – if not learning to love it – learning to see the significance of it as you read through the Bible this year.
Check your bias at the door. Don't read Leviticus with the assumption that God is mean, unrealistic, or judgmental. Read it with the assumption that God is gracious and desires to walk with His people – as He directly states in Leviticus 26, quoted at the top of this newsletter. Don't make God prove Himself to you and overcome your personal assumptions. Check the assumptions and let God be who He actually is in Leviticus. Look for the grace and you'll find it.
Remember God's “why”. Why is God giving the law in the first place? If you just finished Exodus, you have the important backstory and answer to this question. God has delivered Israel from bondage (as prophesied 400 years prior). But He didn't deliver them to send them into chaos. He delivered them to begin rebuilding the Edenic relationship marred by sin in Genesis 3. God is literally dwelling with Israel, walking among them – just like He did with Adam and Eve! But for this to happen in a fallen world, Israel must be holy as God is holy. God could have stood far off from Israel; they were imperfect and unable to make themselves holy. Instead, God does something incredibly gracious. He gives them the Law. The Law enables them to live in the presence of a holy God without judgment. This is grace.
Look for the love in the Law. The first half of Leviticus deals with vertical relationship: laws about Israel's relationship with God, achieved at that time through a careful sacrificial system. The second half deals with horizontal relationship: laws about Israel's relationship to one another, in community. As Jesus later affirms in the gospels, this sums up the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength (the first and greatest commandment - vertical) and love your neighbor as yourself (second, like the first – horizontal). All the law and prophets, Jesus said, hang on these two commands. This means the entire Law is predicated on love for God and love for others. Anyone who says Leviticus is “unloving” is denying the very words of Christ!
Take note of cultural laws. Laws that surprise or confuse us, such as “don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk”, “mixing fibers”, or “cutting the sides of your beard”, often reflect the demonic Canaanite practices of the day. Israel was to live as a city on a hill; a nation of priests. They were to act as the spiritual leaders within the nations of the world, leading them to the One True God. Their holiness was of immense importance due to this responsibility. Abstaining from objective sinful practices was part of this, but so was separating from the cultural practices of the day that were part of pagan Canaanite worship.
Perhaps most importantly, remember that Leviticus is an image of a greater reality. The sacrificial system, the tabernacles structure, and the moral law for God's people point to the coming Messiah would fulfill and elevate all three. He would become the perfect Lamb. He would become the Temple built without hands. He would fulfill the Law and the Prophets, rearticulating the moral truths with an even greater authority than Moses. And He would give His Spirit to His people so they could obey the law with joy.
Leviticus lays the groundwork for the gospels. Leviticus is paralleled in the Book of Hebrews! Leviticus is immensely important, and even though it feels difficult and even dry, remember: no portion of God's Word returns void.
If you're in Bible in a Year Club, keep going! You can do it! We are all in it together. And if you want to go deeper in Leviticus, and learn to love it verse by verse, check out our study here.
Shop Favorites This Week
Bible studies were very popular this week! All four of our verse by verse studies sold over the weekend as well as our light overview of Christian theology, Theology Basics.
It's been a bit since I updated my book list! I'm reading some really big books this year so it's taking more time than usual. I am also in a couple different book clubs (including my own - Verity Book Club!) so the TBR list is high!
Far From the Madding Crowd: Finishing this for the second time this month with Verity Book Club! I have loved talking with our members about this book and processing the plot together. It's one of my favorite novels.
Jane Eyre: I am supposed to be finishing this in February and this is also a re-read - but honestly, I like it LESS reading it again! And I like Jane Eyre much less than I do in any of the movies. This surprised me!
The Story of Christianity Part One: We just finished chapter 12 on the early church in Verity Book Club, church history track. It's been amazing to see the parallels between the early church and what's happening in the church today.
Four Seasons in Rome: My friend Lisa bought this for me at least a year ago and I've been meaning to read it for all those months. For some reason I was inspired to pick it up last week and I finished it in four days. It's a memoir by Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See - so good!), so the writing is like experiencing Rome for yourself. Especially impactful if you've been to Italy.
W0lsey: This biography by John Matusiak was an impulse. One way I stay interested in reading is by following whatever whims I have. Lately I've been interested in the Tudor era, specifically in Cardinal Wolsey's influence on Henry VIII. This book has filled in the gaps for me – PLUS, it adds much necessary context to Reformation history!
Onyx Storm: this is not a recommendation. I am reviewing this popular book in the Fourth Wing series in anticipation of a podcast interview on erotica in the romantasy genre and its effects on Christian women.
