Resumo de Leviticus

Contrary to some people's belief, the tencommandments were not the only laws God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai. Theten commandments were a compressed version of what God required ofIsrael, a small list anyone could remember and carry with them day byday. God did, however, give Moses a more detailed version of the lawthat the Levites (one of the tribes of Israel that Moses and Aaron camefrom and God appointed to be His priesthood) woulddedicate themselvesto learningso that they could teach the people. This is what the bookof Leviticus covers. Exodus started part of the rules and regulations,and Leviticus carries this on. Given the fact that the book ofLeviticus was focused more on the Levites and their service, Leviticuswas really aimed at the priests and priests in training.Besidesmaintaining the tabernacle and offering sacrifices, the priests wereresponsible for handling disputes, treating diseases, and ensuring thatthe entire nation of Israel followed all of God's laws. It was theirjob to help the people carry God's laws into their homes and to applythem to every day life, much like today's clergy. The covenant madebetween God and Israel required that all people, even foreigners in theland obey all rules and regulations, so the Levites were not onlypriests, but judges as well; it was also their job to enforce the law.Understanding the role of the priesthood helps one understand why thelaw is so specific, and at times all the rules and regulations can seemoverwhelming, but so is the law of our country. In order to serve allmen, the law must be specific enough to help all people, regardless oftheir situation understand and obey the law. Due to the fact thatIsrael was about to enter Canaan and fight numerous battles, its wasimperative that everyone obeyed God's law, for God's protection wouldbe lost if they were disobedient. Not only must the people treat eachother right and obey moral law, their relationship with God must alsobe in accordance with His will. At the time, the Jews had to offer aseries of sacrifices, animal, grain, and drink offerings to keepfellowship with God. These sacrifices were similar to other pagansacrificial rituals in terms of the manner in which they were carriedout, but later in the Bible God Himself expresses that the sacrificesthemselves were not what He required, they were merely a physicalrepresentation of their devotion to Him. In other pagan rituals,sacrifices were made to appease their god, and even to feed them. Thiswas not the case with Israel, God merely wanted their devotion andattention so that they may remain pure. The livestock, grain, and drinkthat the Israelites sacrificed were their income and source of food, soby sacrificing a whole bull that could be sold for a good amount, or byburning grain that could have been eaten, they showed their devotionand acknowledged that God was their ultimate provider, and gave thanksby giving back a portion. These sacrifices were also used to atone fortheir sin, for in Genesis God told Adam that the payment for his sinwould be his life. Technically, God had the right to destroy all whosinned. However, in order to preserve the life of His children, Heaccepted an animal in the place of the human life. Usually anunblemished goat or lamb would be sacrificed in place of the humanblood. When this animal was sacrificed, the sin of the man wassymbolically placed on the animal, and it was killed for the sin of theone presenting the offering. Once a year, the highpriest would take agoat, place his hand on the head of the goat placing all the sins ofthe whole nation on it and send it our into the wilderness, hence theterm we use today 'scapegoat'. We call Jesus the lamb of God for thisreason; He took all of our sins on Himself and paid the price so thatwe wouldn't have die. These sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the workHe would do thousands of years later. Purity was also an important partof the covt only for the health of the people, but for theirrelationGod. Purity was required on the inside as well asoutside, and in order to serve God fully, we must be clean in bothaspects. For this reason, those with certain diseases, ailments, andother disorders were not allowed in the camp or to worship at thetabernacle. It wasn't that God didn't love them; but the physical andthe spiritual are deeply connected, and in His eyes its all the same.The priest were appointed to regulate life in the community and ensurethat everyone served God with all their facilities. The law not onlyensured that the covenant wouldn't be broken, but would ensure that thepeople lived happy, healthy lives.

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