We are just two weeks into our study of the book of Leviticus at Regeneration. I preached Sunday night on Leviticus 2, 6:14-23.
This is a text written for a worshipping community—the camp of Israel. It basically lays the groundwork for a grain offering where the worshipper and the worshipping community thank YHWH for (1) delivering them from Egypt, (2) entering into a covenant relationship with them, and (3) forgiving them of sin (in the burnt offering, which we studied last week). The worshipper and worshipping community demonstrate commitment to the covenant relationship. For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, whether in sickness or in health, they are committed to YHWH (who is already committed to them).
It also lays the groundwork for the camp of Israel to be a place where each member of the camp was involved in meeting the needs of the other members. The priests mediated between the worshipping community and YHWH. They met the people's need for worship. The worshipping community, in turn, met the priests' need for daily bread. It is a beautiful picture.
My notes were rather lengthy, so I'm just going to link to them (rather than post everything here): http://www.movedigital.com/go/spinwizard/126419/grain_offering_teaching_outline.pdf. They were thrown together rather hastily, but hopefully you can still get the idea.
And here are my PowerPoint slides, if you're into that sort of thing: http://www.movedigital.com/go/spinwizard/126420/lev_ch2_ch6vv14-23.pdf
There ya go . . . comment away!
This is a text written for a worshipping community—the camp of Israel. It basically lays the groundwork for a grain offering where the worshipper and the worshipping community thank YHWH for (1) delivering them from Egypt, (2) entering into a covenant relationship with them, and (3) forgiving them of sin (in the burnt offering, which we studied last week). The worshipper and worshipping community demonstrate commitment to the covenant relationship. For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, whether in sickness or in health, they are committed to YHWH (who is already committed to them).
It also lays the groundwork for the camp of Israel to be a place where each member of the camp was involved in meeting the needs of the other members. The priests mediated between the worshipping community and YHWH. They met the people's need for worship. The worshipping community, in turn, met the priests' need for daily bread. It is a beautiful picture.
My notes were rather lengthy, so I'm just going to link to them (rather than post everything here): http://www.movedigital.com/go/spinwizard/126419/grain_offering_teaching_outline.pdf. They were thrown together rather hastily, but hopefully you can still get the idea.
And here are my PowerPoint slides, if you're into that sort of thing: http://www.movedigital.com/go/spinwizard/126420/lev_ch2_ch6vv14-23.pdf
There ya go . . . comment away!
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2 comments:
I thought the connection that you drew out between the grain offering and remembrance of the covenant was good. It is interesting to observe that in the subsequent history of Israel, they proceeded to repeatedly break the covenant that they had made with the Lord.
I think we have to be careful that we don't look at the offerings and the Law in general and take it as an example that we, like the Israelites, must fulfill our end of the covenant in order to have relationship with God. It was their failure (and indeed inability) to live up to their end of the covenant that shows the inadequacy of the Old Covenant and the need for a new and better covenant (Hebrews 8).
What we see in our covenant remembrance ritual, the Lord's Supper, is that Jesus is the one who fulfills the covenant requirements for us. He atones for sin and provides for us a righteousness that is not of ourselves. Jesus also sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that we grow in holiness not to maintain our place in the covenant but as the outworking of inward regeneration.
Great points, Paul! In retrospect, I should have made it more clear that even though we, like Israel, are in a covenant relationship with God, it is a new and better covenant . . . one that is all about Jesus working in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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