Lev 24:10-23: A Case Study in Getting What You Deserve

1. Introduction
   1. Set the stage: Israel in the desert
2. Text: Lev 24:10-23
3. Blasphemy
   1. What is blasphemy?
   2. Violation of the Third Commandment (Ex 20:7)
   3. Cursing God (Ex 22:28)
      1. Cf. Job: "Curse God and die"
   4. Pride
      1. Cf. Sennacherib of Assyria (2 Kings 18-19) boasting of his power over Israel & the world
   5. Unbelief
      1. Cf. God's indictment of Israel for forsaking him to go after idols (Ez 20:27-28)
   6. It's not hard to see this all around us
   7. Blasphemy is a feature of the anti-Christian world
      1. Rev. 17 "The Woman and the Beast"
      2. Represents wicked, worldly authority
      3. Responsible for the killing of the saints
      4. The Lamb will overcome, and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers
4. Stoning
   1. Why was an offering not possible?
      1. Offerings are for unintentional sins
      2. This is a high-handed or intentional sin
      3. cf. Num 15:22-31
   2. Those who heard also received guilt, hence the placing of hands on the head of the one to be stoned
   3. The community reflects God's character, so the community must respond
5. Principle of Proportionality
   1. What about Mt 5:38-42?
   2. The law was providing a general principle
   3. Jesus' teaching is directed at using this principle for personal vengeance
   4. Vengeance belongs to the Lord (Rom 12:19)
   5. Civil authority also does not bear the sword in vain (Rom 13:4)
   6. The Christian response
      1. Love your enemies
      2. Pray for those who persecute you
      3. Repay evil with good
   7. A side note: Does this imply that not all sin is equal?
6. Where is the grace?
   1. We are actually all guilty of high-handed sins
      1. The story as an illustration
         1. Of Israel's history of disobedience
         2. Of fallen humanity trying to relate to God apart from Christ
      2. Jesus' sacrifice, unlike those of the OT, can take away guilt for real, even for intentional sins & rebellion (Heb 10:4, Rom 5:8, Eph 2:1-10)
      3. We need the gospel in order to be holy
         1. Positionally
         2. Actually
      4. We ought to love much for having been forgiven much
      5. We ought to forgive and love one another
      6. We ought to receive correction as life-giving and respond with repentance and gratitude
   2. The Apostle Paul as an example of a forgiven blaphemer (Acts 26:11, 1 Tim 1:13)
   3. Holiness in the community is just as important
      1. 1 Pet 2:9-10
7. Conclusion: Regen Reflection
   1. In what ways do you see blasphemous tendencies in your own heart?
   2. How can we guard holiness in our New Covenant community?
   3. Prayer
      1. Confession of intentional sins
      2. Thanksgiving for Jesus sacrifice for intentional sins

Holiness: Priests, Beasts, & Feasts

Following are my notes from last week's study on Holiness.

Holiness: Priests, Beasts, & Feasts
Leviticus 21-24:9

There are some here who can tell you that I tend to look for life analogies everywhere. My analysis of the worth of a movie usually has something to do with reality and whether there were teaching moments. As I read through these 3+ chapters, I saw a lot of historical information about regulations regarding how the Israelites (and those “foreigners” who chose to leave their people, believe God, and worship with Israel) were to live their lives. But I also saw a lot of life lessons for us today.

We’re going to read the passage all at once. That will give you the historical nature. Then a large portion of the following discussion will center on application for us today.

Leviticus 21:1-24:9

Previous chapters have dealt with the holiness of the common person. This next chapter deals with the holiness of priests. They are held to a higher standard as a result of their occupation.

Chapter 21 – Priests

v.1-8: Do not engage in activity that makes you unclean according to the laws that we’ve discussed over the last few weeks. (Remember that those who believe in Jesus are considered priests. We should also be abstaining from activities that lead us to be unholy before the Lord.)

v. 9: Teach your children to abstain from activities that defile. There are consequences to living outside of God’s instruction.

v. 13-15: Marriage: Do not marry an individual who will, by their lifestyle, cause you to sin; marry someone who is “from your own people” which means “marry someone who shares your faith and is actively living it.”

v. 16-23: For a priest, having a physical defect was symbolic of not being complete/not perfect. As a result, the person could not present sacrifices which must be unblemished. Notice however, that God still loves and cares for the individual; he can still partake of the provision for the priesthood. This requirement passed away with the passing of the sacrificial system. The one who presents our sacrifice, Jesus, is completely whole and perfect.

Chapter 22

v. 1-9: Don’t come near sacrificial offerings if you are unclean. That is, Do not pretend to be living for God just to impress people or to hide sin. It’s a farce; a lie. God has already said that we are not to be lying; to do so makes us unholy before Him (cf. Chapter 19).

Beasts

v. 10-16: Reiteration of how God uses sacrificial offerings to care for priests. Violation of the laws surrounding this is a sin. Restitution must be made for violation according to laws already given.

v. 17-28: When you make an offering to the Lord, it needs to be sin-free. Imperfection in an animal is symbolic of sin. Likewise, misrepresentation of our offerings is sinful. As an example, turn to Acts 5:1-11. This couple did not sin in that they brought before the Lord an offering that was a portion of their earnings. They sinned in that they brought the offering and claimed it was the entirety of their earnings. As a result, their offering was not sin-free.

v. 29-33: When you sacrifice, do it right. Notice that all through these two chapters, again God has reiterated numerous times, “I am the LORD”. Living as one who is holy means living without sin. Living without sin means knowing Jesus and following Him. Our lives are to honor Him.

Feasts
See handout.

Chapter 23

v. 3: Sabbath – a day to rest, rejuvenate, refocus, and intentionally honor God.

v. 4-8: Passover and Unleavened Bread

A time to remember the time when the first born of the Israelites was spared from death because the angel of death “passed them over” if their house was covered by the blood of the lamb.

v. 9-14: Firstfruits

This concept recurs throughout Scripture. When making an offering to God, it should be the “first part” or the best (the first of the fruit of your labor). There is a commercial running on TV and radio right now about Olathe Sweet Corn. The ad says that this particular farm hand picks the first ear of corn because it is the sweetest, juiciest, best. These are the only ears of corn sent to that particular store. These are their firstfruits. This is to be a lasting ordinance for generations to come. Ahem, that’s us.

v. 15-21: Feast of Weeks

Bring the first fruits of the harvest as an offering. Somewhere near the beginning of harvest.

v. 22: When harvesting (that is, in every day life), care for the poor.

v. 23-25: Feast of Trumpets

A day set aside to worship.

v. 26-32: Day of Atonement

Chapter 16 outlines the regulations surrounding this day. This is a once a year sacrifice for the community as a whole. There are sins of the individual, which are represented by individual sacrifice. But there are also sins of a community and for those, Israel repented and sacrificed here.

v. 33-34: Feast of Tabernacles

End of the harvest. Note, when making offerings here, it is to be over and above the usual offering. Don’t violate your vows or commitments by redirecting gifts intended for one individual, ministry, organization. Rather, when a new or one-time opportunity comes up to give, make that gift over and above your usual giving. (example: Memorial gifts)

This is also a time to remember the Exodus and to give thanks for another year of God’s faithful and promised provision in the Promised Land.

Chapter 24

v. 1-9: Oil and Bread set before the Lord
Lamps burned at night but not during the day.

12 loaves possibly represent 12 tribes and God’s sustainment of His people.

Weird Laws in Leviticus 11-17

1) Circles of Increasing Holiness

a. The Holy of Holies – the presence of God – high priest

b. The Tent of Meeting/Tabernacle

c. The Camp

d. The Wilderness (world)

e. Definition of Holiness – complete, perfection, wholeness, set apart/special, order

2) Holistic Holiness – Every Christian a Theologian/

a. Purity in food (11)

i. The food laws are the most well known, the most distinctive to this very day of the Jewish people, and probably the least understood.

ii. The purpose is clear but the reasons are opaque v. 11:44-47

iii. 4 reasons

1. arbitrary – only God knows (rabbi in Year of Living”)

2. Cultic assoc. w/ pagan cultures

a. Actually they sacrificed many of the same animals

3. Hygenic – popular explanation today

a. Some clean worse then unclean, no hint in scripture

4. Symbolic

a. A rather subjective explanation. Illustration of righteous vs. sinful – chewing on cud = meditate on law. (I tend to think for personal piety this can be formative but should be understood as normative or absolute.)

b. In what is clean and unclean is a symbol of Holiness/cleanness which is represented by wholeness/normality.

c. Animals that transgress normal motion are unclean

i. Fish to the sea, fins and scales are "most normal / birds to the air / hooves to the land, contra paws (literally in Hebrew "hands") which are not the "most normal"

ii. Swarm – chaotic motion

iii. Birds of prey eat blood, which is forbidden

d. Threefold division

i. those that are unclean, those clean, those for sacrifice

ii. ills. Of mankind

iii. outside camp – majority of Israel – priests

5. All dead animals make you unclean, b/c death is contrary to life and thus holiness. Only touching not eating

iv. New Testament – Acts 10, 15; 1 Cor. 8-10; Rom 14;

1. distinction between clean and unclean food obsolete because the distinction between Jew and Gentile is obsolete

2. These are constant reminders of redemption. Every meal you are reminded that you belong to Jesus and kingdom of heaven, not the world

b. Purity in Childbirth (12:1-8)

i. Seems conflicting?

1. Children are a blessing, procreation is encouraged

2. No where does it say the child is unclean!!!!

3. Only the mother is made unclean

4. Woman unclean due to loss of blood and afterbirth which could last for many days and weeks.

ii. Why a girl longer than a boy?

1. We honestly don't know but my guess it that in contrast with the surrounding cultures Judaism treated women much better. Other contemporaries had a similar practice, and some still do it today in Africa. Also, too much of a contrast with surrounding cultures could potentially be seen as a sign of weakness to those male dominated societies. For example, total egalitarianism is probably difficult to do initially when ministering to a Muslim culture. (Somebody can research that hypothesis and get back to me some day)

2. status of women?

3. potential evidence discharge lasts longer but not 2x

iii. Application – give thanks for the birth of a child

c. Purity in the surface, skincare and drywall (13-14)

i. V. 13:1-3 – to be examined by priest to determine uncleanness not to diagnose or to heal

ii. Not leprosy, mistranslation of the King James due to greek word confusion

iii. V. 13:45-46 – Tearing of clothes, missed up hair, covering facial hair. This is not advice for being cool or the grunge era. It may sound like a basic young recovering from a hangover or basically some college dude or still living in his mom’s basement. At some point this became attractive… Instead it means…

1. signs of mourning since they will be cut off from the community.

2. side note, except for the modern secular world, being separated from the community has always been seen as a terrible loss, the need to get away may be good for rest and recovery but by no means is to be encouraged because people bother you. That is likely due to sin and sinful attitudes.

iv. An unclean person would be socially dead

1. varying levels of seriousness of disease was varying levels of separation from community

v. Mildew was considered akin to skin disease, abnormalities in the surface of one’s home just like the same in one’s skin

vi. Unlike other cultures – priest not a physician, healing could come only from God alone sought through prayer (james 5)

vii. Prescription for becoming clean outlined in 14

viii. Application

1. holiness and perfection are important and slight deviations in one’s walk is correctable but longs ones may show you to be outside the camp, i.e. not a Christian

2. In NT Christ comes to us to seek and save the lost, those outside the camp

3. Instead we no longer isolate ourselves from the sick, but we seek them out to bring them healing and ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ.

4. Because Jesus has made us permanently clean, we are now able to go to anyone, anywhere and spread cleanness, that is holiness. The holiness of Jesus is contagious!

d. Purity in Sex (15)

i. V. 15:1-7 – he is unclean and everything he touches

ii. What the heck is a “discharge”?

1. origin is sexual organs, even grosser than you probably first imagined.

2. The guy is a walking germ and is in needed of serious cleansing, a powerwasher or something

3. most likely gonorrhea, though other modern STDs probably would have qualified too

4. natural discharges like menstruation or wet dreams merely required taking a bath, which you should do anyway because its just gross not too. Its called hygene!

a. Uncleanness establishes boundaries of action, but as long as these are not transgressed no guilt is incurred.

b. A person is not a sinner because she had a period or he woke up with defiled boxers

c. The incur sin when they break the rules

iii. Why?

1. Restrain sexual behavior

a. The dude with STDs is confined to his house instead of spreading his junk around like a parasite

b. Prostitution would be socially unacceptable

c. Women would not be abused during times of war since sex the night before worship or battle is forbidden.

d. Young boys and girls who have not learned self control start practicing immediately

2. Menstration

a. Actually rare because women married young and had lots of kids, so it affects single teenage girls the most

b. Also, a teenage boy with raging hormones won’t interact with a girl he doesn’t know well for fear of being unclean.

iv. Application – show restraint in relationship with the opposite sex. Keep your paints on!! Keep your motives pure and learn how to be friends with the opposite sex before you even think about getting serious with anyone.

e. Explaining Blood being forbidden (17)

i. Consumption not transfusion

ii. It is intended for atonement but ultimately Christ’s blood makes us clean and drinking it symbolizes our unity with him

iii. Animals to be sacrificed must be done in the tabernacle to avoid the goat idol. (17:5,7)

3) Application of all these laws

a. God desires absolute purity in all aspects of life

b. You need to discern between good desires and bad desires, between sinful thoughts, reactions, and deeds and good ones

c. God desires to make us whole, complete and pure. Worship of him helps this come about in us through the atonement of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit.

d. Levitical laws encouraged uniformity.

i. NT is multi-racial and multi-cultural, these things are culturally defined so moral aspects of internal attitudes, motives, thoughts, are the source of action. We must be internal pure if we expect to be externally pure.

ii. Holiness begins with the heart not where you shop, what you eat, or who your friends are.

4) Obtaining Total Purity (16:1-2) (should have been a separate sermon)

a. The Day of Atonement

i. Follows the death of Aaron’s sons, the whole tabernacle and the holy of holies must be cleansed

ii. Once a year sacrifice

b. The differences

i. Aaron presents a bull for himself and his household

ii. He takes all his fancy high priest clothes off, takes a bath, and puts on simple white linen clothes

iii. He presents two goats, one for sacrifice and one as the scapegoat, determined by casting lots

iv. He takes a censer, or coal from the alter for sacrifices and lets its smoke fill the HOH. So he won’t die by being able to gaze upon the presence or the face of the LORD

v. Here he sprinkles blood in the HOH not before the veil as in the sin offering for priests (Lev 4)

vi. After the sacrifices, he lays hands on the goat, confesses the sins of the whole nation and “some guy” takes it into the wilderness (i.e. outside the camp where sin, death, chaos, reign)

c. A special day (16:29-34)

i. Deny yourselves

ii. No one is to work

iii. Atonement will be made for you. The whole nation is cleansed! Everyone is covered by the blood so that God’s presence may remain among us.

iv. Jesus is our once for all sacrifice. Our high priest superior to Aaron and superior to the animal sacrificed. Through placing our faith and trust in Jesus, confessing and repenting of our sins we are permanently cleansed from all sin, wickedness and defilement.

v. In Revelation 19:8 the saints in heaven are clothed in clothes similar to Aaron on the day of atonement. We will be in the very presence of God for a all of eternity, having been cleansed from all sin. We will all be equal in the site of God.

d. Application

i. Because of Jesus, God’s presence, his Holy Spirit dwells with us continuously.

ii. Therefore, it becomes even more crucial for us to discern what is clean and unclean, what is common and what is holy.

iii. We need to always be on guard against sinful motives, attitudes, and actions. They must be put to death and cleansed by the spirit that we may continue to walk in God’s presence.

iv. We need to constantly examine ourselves and the surrounding culture so we can discern the difference between holy things and unholy things.

v. You should pursue purity and integrity in the things you do.

1. In how you handle food. Fasting is encouraged and eating whenever and whatever you feel like is reflect uncleaness. Show restraint and self control. Eat slowly that you may enjoy what God has given you.

2. In all sexual things. Respect and revere life. Sex is not just for enjoyment and a natural impulse to give in to because “you ain’t nothing but mammels.” A lie. Show self-control and restraint, even in marriage. It should be free and frequent but do not disrespect your spouse and demand it when you want it. That is selfish, childish, and not loving. Marriage is not to be look forward to so you can “do it” whenever you like. Stupid. Sex is not only a great expression of love and the unity of a man and woman, but the product of it is a family. God created this to be the only appropriate situation for a family to exist. If you are not ready to be a parent, keep your freaking pants on! Do not spread you junk around carelessly but be modest and pure in how you approach sex. Be careful how you discuss it and with whom you discuss it.

3. Your home also reflects the integrity and purity you have. Keep it clean. Don’t be a bum who doesn’t pick up after themselves. Practice cleaning your house and in the like manner learn to clean your heart. Do it regularly.

4. goat idol – Worship should be done appropriately. Do not confuse pagan acts of worship with holy, pure, true worship of God.

5) Regen Reflection

a. What are ways in which you think purity can be expressed in what you eat, wear, or conduct yourself with the opposite sex, or in how you organize you home?

b. Discuss how Christ enables you to obtain total purity in all aspects of your life.

c. What are some possible ways we as Christian should conduct ourselves to show visibly purity and holiness that is different from the rest of the world? What is one thing you intend to do to make it clear you are a Christian to your friends and neighbors?

Holiness: Sex, Law, and Idols

Tonight we discussed the next section in Leviticus: Chapters 18-20. This is where God starts laying down the practical nature of holy living. These 3 chapters are pretty black and white with the list of things to not engage in. Below are my somewhat scripted notes on the topic. There was a lot of discussion about each section which is, obviously, not reflected here.

Holiness: Sex, Law, and Idols

Leviticus 18-20

We’re studying through the book of Leviticus which is, in essence, a manual on how to worship God. A major theme of the book is “What it means to be holy”, as we’ve seen in discussions about various portions of the text thus far.

Last week, in discussing what it means for an object or person to be “clean” or “unclean”, Chris said that that which is holy should be that which is normal. Those things which are not holy, ought to be abnormal.

Several weeks ago, Andrew told us that there are three facets to being holy: Being complete, being set apart, and being ordered.

This brings us to Chapter 18. God, being amazingly pragmatic and understanding that we need more definition to life, gives us a list of “How to’s” on being holy.

We’re going to read Chapters 18-20 all at once. There is a phrase repeated 22 times in this passage. See if you can figure out what it is.

You can read the passage by clicking here.

Leviticus 18:1-5

What it is to be holy: Set apart, complete, ordered, normal.

1. Do not follow the practices of the Egyptians or the Canaanites. Instead, follow the decrees and laws of God.

2. If you are actually obeying God, it will be demonstrated in how you live life.

3. Note: God doesn’t say this will be easy. We are to live holy lives anyway.

Leviticus 18:6-30

In a nutshell, this says, “Do not have sex with…”

1. Close relatives (blood, married, step)

2. Individuals of the same gender

3. Someone to whom you are not married

4. Animals

Oh, and by the way, offering any part of worship to any god other than Jesus, is the same as prostituting yourself to that god. Don’t do it.

Why? God says all of this immediately after saying, “Don’t act like the Egyptians and Cannanites”. Much like our culture, these cultures were probably obsessed with sex. In fact, it is well known that worship of other gods usually involved sexual rituals and prostitution.

Well, it seems to be working for them! Why can’t we do it? Leviticus 18:24-30… Because these cultures practice these sinful acts, God considers not just the people but also the land that they inhabit to be defiled (incomplete, out of order). God will, in fact, drive the Canaanites out of the land because they have become so sinful. Remember what happened back in Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19)? Rampant sexual sin led to total destruction of the cities. And the person who looked back to what was (representing a desire for that life) rather than looking forward to what God had in store, turned to salt, lost her life.

God says (Leviticus 18:29-30) that those who engage in these practices will be cut off from their people. We’ll explore the meaning of this in more detail in Chapter 20.

Leviticus 19

Here God lays down the hammer on how we are supposed to live our lives.

He starts out with telling Moses that EVERYONE (not just leadership… and not everyone except leadership) needs to be told that this is how they are to live. “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

Many of the first items detailed should be familiar because they are straight out of rules we know as the “10 Commandments” listed in Exodus 20. The other items basically expand on these statements.

In a nutshell, this passage says:

1. Respect your mother and father
2. Observe Sabbath
3. Live only for Jesus and not for other gods.
4. Care for the poor.
5. Respect the elderly.
6. Be fair, honest, and full of integrity in doing business.
7. Show justice and be impartial in judgment.
8. Repent of (demonstrated by sacrifice for) wrong doing.
9. Don’t get involved with spirits that are not of God.
10. Do things right; live in order.
11. Treat foreigners just as well as you would treat natives.
12. Respect life.
13. Confront someone who sins against you so that you don't join in their sin by holding a grudge.
    

Leviticus 20:1-5 (and Leviticus 18:21)

Molech. Who is Molech?

1. Molech is the god of the Ammonites whose worship included child sacrifice. Evidence of the practice of child sacrifice in worship has been found in many parts of what was the “known” world in Old Testament times: North Africa (Carthage), Sardinia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia.[1]^,[2]

2. Molech is representative of all false gods.

What’s the big deal with Molech?

Offering a child to a god other than Jesus is both a representative and a physical violation of what it is to worship Jesus. It says that an individual is not sold on God being God. It is a violation of what it means to be holy.

It is NOT OK to teach your children/family to worship or offer any part of themselves to a god other than Jesus.

If I do worship another god, verse 5 says that God “sets his face against [me]”. What does that mean?

Here’s where we get into the list of consequences for disobeying the rules for living that God just gave us in the last 2+ chapters. They all boil down to one concept: Death. Physical death and loss (death) of relationship. Some sins result in physical death and others result in loss of community (death of relationships with those around you who live in normal, ordered, not sinful, holy community).

This concept is nothing new to Israel. It’s the same consequence handed down at the fall of man from perfection to sin in Genesis 3. God said, “Hey, I like hanging out with you. Here are the rules for hanging out with me. I am holy and cannot hang out with people who are not. So, eat from every tree in the garden except the one in the middle. If you eat the fruit on that tree, you will surely die.” So, our parents, Adam and Eve, chose to eat the forbidden fruit. And they died. First, they lost relationship (community) with God. Second, they now looked forward to a time when their physical bodies would actually die.

Similarly, the Israelites lose community with God by participating in unholy activities. The whole first part of Leviticus (and indeed a portion of chapter 19), address this death of relationship. Repent (shown by sacrifice) and have the relationship restored. (cf. Jesus!)

For those sins where Chapter 20 says that the consequence is loss of community (v. 6, 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21), the person loses his support system within the community of Israel. Because the individual chooses to engage in unrepentant sin, the community must now treat him/her as they would treat one who does not know Jesus.

For those sins where Chapter 20 says that the consequence is physical death (v. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 27), the person loses his or her life.

All the way through this passage, God repeats a theme. What is it (the phrase that was repeated 22 times in the text)? “I am the LORD”.

Why does God feel like He needs to hammer this theme home? Perhaps it’s because the Israelites, like modern peoples, had trouble not allowing other things to get in the way of their relationship with God. Sex, Greed (unfair business practices), dishonesty, selfishness, dishonor, lack of respect, idolatry, not caring for the poor, ignoring the elderly, a lack of repentance for wrong doing (sin).

In ancient times, the practice was that life is lived in community. Life lived in community before God was ordered and honoring to both God and each other. In modern American society, we are often more focused on the importance of the individual than that of the community. Many people are, as a result, very lonely and do not have a group of people who will naturally urge one another toward set apart (holy) living.

At Regeneration, we want to be a community of individuals who live holy before God. Therefore, as you discuss the reflection questions at your table, do not be afraid to share the truth. Give others at your table space to share personal struggles without tearing them down for having a struggle. And respect and honor one another by not discussing the things someone has shared outside of this group. As well, respect and honor one another by continuing to pray throughout the weeks and months ahead and by following up to see where the individual is at in growth on those struggles.

Regen Reflection:

1. What items, objects, practices, habits, etc get in the way of your relationship with God?
2. Spend some time in prayer. Repent of things that get in the way of your relationship with God. It is a type of idol. Pray for and encourage one another in the areas where they are also struggling.

---

[1] Wenham, Gordon J. The Book of Leviticus. 1979. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pp. 258-9

[2] Walton, John H., Matthews, Victor H., Chavalas, Mark W. The IVP Bible BackgroundCommentary: Old Testament. 2000. IVP Academic. Downers Grove, Illinois. Pp. 132-3.

Leviticus - The Priesthood

A couple weeks ago I gave a talk about Leviticus 8-10. These chapters comprise one of the few narrative portions of Leviticus.

The big idea is that God wants to dwell with his people, but in order for this to happen, his people must distinguish between the holy and the common, the unclean and the clean. We cannot behave as if God is not with us. We must behave differently as a result of his presence.

Here are my notes: http://www.xtreak.com/go/spinwizard/130141/priesthood_teaching_outline.pdf