Week 33: Numbers Part 1

Introduction Numbers is not a well-known book, neither is it widely quoted. Perhaps only two or three passages are well known. Samuel Morse quoted one of these after he sent the first telegraph message in Morse code to Washington DC on 24 May 1844. He expressed his...

Week 32: Leviticus Part 6

Reading Leviticus as Christians What has this book to say to us, living as Christians in the modern world? Do we have to get rid of all mixed-fibre clothing? If we get dry rot in the house, do we have to burn it down? One principle we can use as a guide is found in...

Week 31: Leviticus Part 5

Rules and regulations We need to be clear about our understanding of the law of Moses. It is called the ‘law’, not the ‘laws’, because it all hangs together. Holiness means wholeness, and all these rules and regulations fit together and form one whole. If you break...

Week 30: Leviticus Part 4

Rules for living Clean and unclean A crucial area to understand in Leviticus concerns the distinctions between holy and common, clean and unclean. Most people think in terms of good and bad, but the Bible works with three categories, as the chart shows. There are two...

Week 29: Leviticus Part 3

Offerings and worship Let us look first at the opening seven chapters, which deal with the rules for offerings. There are five offerings, of two different types. Gratitude offerings The first three offerings were the right way to say ‘thank you’ to God for blessing....

Week 28: Leviticus Part 2

Relation to Exodus Having looked at Leviticus in the context of the Pentateuch, we should also relate it back to Exodus. It is very important to recognize how each book grows out of the previous book if we wish to understand it fully. In the second half of Exodus the...

Week 27: Leviticus Part 1

Introduction Many people who resolve to read the Bible all the way through get stuck in Leviticus. It is easy to understand why. It is a very difficult book to read, for three main reasons. The first is that it is quite simply a boring book – it is like trying...

Week 26: Exodus Part 7

Christian use of the Book of Exodus The story of Exodus is compelling and the details of the Israelites’ worship fascinating, but we must ask this: How should Christians read it today? The first thing to say is that God has not changed. He deals with Christians in the...

Week 25: Exodus Part 6

8. Specification and specialists SPECIFICATIONS Next we come to the extraordinary fact that God wanted to live with Israel. He had already made his holiness very clear. When the law was given on Mount Sinai, God wanted the Israelites to be sure what his holiness...

Week 24: Exodus Part 5

Chapters 19-40 After the narrative of the escape from Egypt, the second part of Exodus turns more towards legislation, the commandments God gave his people, telling them how they were to live, and the covenant he made with them. 7. Commandments and covenant There are...