The LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron and his sons: 'These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the LORD in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. – Leviticus 6:24-26
Man… Aaron and his peeps were eating WELL.
So far in Leviticus Moses has been talking about various rules and regulations. Now we are at the section governing how various sacrifices are to be made.
One of the common threads between these various offerings is that they are supposed to be eaten by Aaron and his sons.
Being of the priestly line had its perks.
Aaron was the first chief priest and God decided that all of the men in his line would have the role of being the chief priests of
They had to handle the
That is a lot of work.
When the people sinned or did something otherwise unsavory they had to give an offering.
God required the offerings to be without blemish and of proper value so one couldn’t slide in the crippled or old sheep as their offering.
When I think about myself and all of the times in my life that I have fallen short it’s surprising to me that folk didn’t go broke giving these offerings.
But this does make me thing about the church today. We actually have something similar.
Tithes and offerings.
This has become a controversial subject for many reasons of course. Many of us have seen ridiculously ornate churches, pastors with fancy Italian suits who live in mansions, and congregations who give them fancy cars.
But when we get back to the origins of this it becomes really basic. How is someone who dedicates their life to serving others going to provide for themselves?
The can’t, so we provide for them.
Non-profits work this way. We hope that the majority of the money that we donate goes toward whatever cause they are promoting ,but we also know that some of it must go to running the organization. Every organization needs employees and resources.
The church is no different.
It is funny to me though to think of the random Israelite who brings a dove because he can’t afford a sheep. I wonder what he was thinking when he saw Aaron’s progeny smackin’ their gums on some succulent lamb chops.
Can a brotha get some of that laaaaaamb?
Nope, sure can’t… cause with that benefit comes a WHOLE LOT of responsibility.
At the end of the day the priests have to answer directly to God. And God don’t take too kindly to folk who mess over his people
Today’s Reading: Leviticus 6-7; Matthew 25: 1-30
Hmmm...What if each time we sinned we had to give something up?
ReplyDeleteI'ma think about doin that. Might actually keep peope in check.
You stole? Time to give up some clothes bruh.
Yeah man try it out for a spell. Let us all know what you learn!!
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to not HAVE to do those things to get in God's good graces since it's freely given (Thanks God). The Israelites had to give offering to maintain their relationship with God, all we have to do is sincerely confess our sin, and try to change. Also, when we give a willing offering he promises to give it back to us "good measure, shaken together, pressed down, running over." That's pretty generous considering he's the reason we have anything to give in the first place. It's like through his grace, we get to eat that good lamb just because He's so good to us.
ReplyDeleteYeah Kof that's the realest. That's why I wanted to see what the result of Yohance's experiment will be.
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible to live up to that standard.
I'm glad that through grace we don't have to.