Leviticus 22 - Don’t Give Defective Lambs To Goodwill

You've returned to Tabernacle Talk, and I am glad you are here.

I'm recording today from my in-law's basement, and it's Memorial Day when I'm recording this, and thankful for those that both gave their lives in service to our country, as well as the family members of those that now live with that memory, and that

loss of their loved one, and I am grateful. One of my grandparents, he served in the Air Force for 20 years and in the Army for two years, and thankfully, he was able to come home and live a nice full life after his service, but there are many that

didn't get to come home. And so I want to remember to be grateful and keep those in prayer that this time of year, as with many holidays, it's bittersweet and people can regard well the sacrifice of a loved one, but it doesn't take away the hurt of

missing them. And so I want to remember those. We're in Leviticus 22 today and we're going to be looking at the priests and their food, going to be looking at some acceptable sacrifices and some different things.

So we'll be, as we've talked about, the Book of Leviticus started off with the sacrifices and the priests, and then it went to the ceremonial law, how we can be ritually clean in God's presence, and then the Day of Atonement.

And then we looked at the moral law of how we can be righteously pure in God's presence.

And then now we are back into the section about the priests, and then we'll look at some of the Holy Days, the festivals that Israel celebrated in remembrance of what God had done. So we are going into some of the last parts of the book.

I think if I looked at this correctly, we'll probably end Leviticus about Friday or Monday, and so it's been a great study.

I've really, really enjoyed spending this time and really wrestling through some things that, for a lot of people, they've got questions.

And so I hope that this, in some small way, helped you to be able to appreciate this portion of God's Word even more.

Chapter 22 and verse number 1 says, Yahweh spoke to Moses, tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to me, so that they do not profane my holy name.

He says, deal respectfully with what is God's. And man, I can, oh, any ends of the statement, that they not profane my holy name, I am Yahweh.

One of the things that this makes me think of is Romans 12, where we're called to offer our bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable into God, and we are to remember even in what we do and say and how we act, we put into our body.

All of those things are to bring glory to God. It's something that we deal respectfully with, because it is supposed to be an offering to God.

Verse 3, say to them, if any man from any of your descendants throughout your generations is in a state of uncleanness, yet approaches the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate to Yahweh, that person will be cut off from my presence.

I am Yahweh. Even as we read about with Aaron's two sons right at the beginning of the priesthood. He says that same thing will happen if you do this any bad way.

He says, no man of Aaron's descendants who has a skin disease or a discharge is to eat from the holy offerings until he is clean.

Whoever touches anything made unclean by a dead person or by a man who has an emission of semen or whoever touches any swarming creature that makes him unclean or any person who makes him unclean, whatever is unclean, the man who touches any of these

will remain unclean until evening and is not to eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body with water. When the sun is set, he will become clean and then he may eat from the holy offerings for that is his food.

So God, again, is saying even in the ceremonial, the ritual aspects, you're to remember who God is, that he's the giver of life and that things that are dead, things that are unclean, things that even have to do with the creation of new life, all of

those are to kind of remind you of God's holiness and of his intentions and his plans. And so make sure that you take a bath, that you wait until 6 p.m. to eat from the holy offerings of God, like remember who he is before you do anything.

Verse number 8, he must not eat an animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts, making himself unclean by it. I am Yahweh. They must keep my instruction or they will be guilty and die because they profane it.

I am Yahweh who sets them apart. God says, I have a whole new way of life and thinking and acting, and I want them to live by that, that you go into the radioactive center without your hazmat suit on.

Without that radioactive suit, you're going to die. And so he says, hey, even these ceremonial things need to be followed. And then verse number 10, no one outside a priest's family is to eat the Holy Offering.

A foreigner staying with a priest or a hired worker is not to eat the Holy Offering. But if a priest purchases someone with his own silver, that person may eat it and those born in his house may eat his food.

Now, just because there's a culture difference here, I want to mention this.

If a priest purchases someone with his own silver, this would be an indentured servant that would be subject to all of the same things that you would read about in, I believe it's the Book of Exodus unless it's in this later section with the Holy

Days. These would be people that could go free at some point. These are not lifelong slaves that are slaves because of skin color or anything like that.

There was a responsibility that the master, the lord of the house, if you want to phrase it that way in kind of an English type setting from the 1500s and 1600s, when you have someone that is yours, you are responsible for caring for them.

And so God says, yeah, if you just have a random person that's stopping by, they don't get to eat from the holy offerings.

But he says anyone that, yeah, is their indentured servant, maybe they're hired to help with the house, maybe they're hired to watch the kids and make sure the kids go to Torah school or whatever it is, whatever the task is that the person was hired

for, their entire existence, their housing, their clothing, their food, it all comes from this priest or Levite. And so he says he is due to a portion of this, maybe one application that we could take for us today would be take care of those that you

are responsible for. If you have someone that's in your house and that intentionally, maybe they're not just squatting or something, but that you are responsible for them. And take care of them for their needs.

Take care to even warn them spiritually. I can think of many people that are in some situations where someone's living with them, but they are engaging just in very destructive soul behavior.

And I'd encourage you, if you're the one housing someone else, set some boundaries.

If someone's going to benefit from your kindness, make sure that your kindness isn't bereft of helping them not make decisions that would destroy themselves or that would put them in peril and rebellion against God.

That can be done in very kind ways and obviously done with the help of the Holy Spirit and knowing, okay, what do I say? When do I say it? What rules do I put up?

What rules do I not put up? But you have a responsibility to those that are in your household, even as we would read about here in this verse.

Verse number 12, If the priest's daughter is married to a man outside a priest's family, she is not to eat from the holy contributions. She's now part of the tribe of Benjamin or Dan or Ephraim. She's no longer one of those in the tribe of Levi.

Verse 13, But if the priest's daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no children and returns to her father's houses in her youth, she may share her father's food.

Once that family tie has been severed, either through death or divorce, God says now she's no longer part of the tribe of Benjamin or tribe of Dan, tribe of Ephraim. Now she is back to the tribe of Levi if she's being cared for by her father.

It says, But no outsider may share it. Verse 14, If anyone eats a holy offering in error, he is to add a fifth to its value and give the holy offering to the priest. Anyone accidentally eats a holy offering.

I don't know exactly how this would happen, but apparently it's something. And it says, Add a fifth to its value, so whatever the offering was worth plus 20%. So if the offering was worth, you know, I'll just do easy math.

It was worth 10 shekels. Then you add another two shekels on top of that, and you pay 12 shekels total to the temple for that.

Verse 15, The priests must not profane the holy offerings the Israelites give to Yahweh by letting the people eat their holy offerings and having them bear the penalty of restitution for I am Yahweh who sets them apart.

He says, just in case there was a mistake in understanding what I just said, I am not saying that you go, oh yeah, yeah, you can eat this food, oh, psych, now you owe me more.

There was this thing that was only worth 10 shekels, but through tricking people into eating it so then they have to pay the restitution, now I can get 12 shekels worth of stuff. He says, don't do that. That is absolutely not the point.

The point is that it's something special between me and the Levites, between me and the priesthood.

Verse number 17, Yahweh spoke to Moses, speak to Aaron his sons and all the Israelites and tell them, any man of the house of Israel or of the resident aliens in Israel who presents his offering, whether they present payment of vows or free will

gifts to Yahweh as burnt offerings, they must offer an unblemished meal from the cattle, sheep or goats in order for you to be accepted. You are not to present anything that has a defect because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

When a man presents a fellowship sacrifice to Yahweh to fulfill a vow or as a free will offering from the herd or flock, it has to be unblemished to be acceptable. There must be no defect in it. He says, don't give God your worst.

One thing that I'd often heard people say, hey, don't, if you're going to donate, you know, clothing or something to Goodwill or to, you know, whatever other place, they say, you know, don't, don't just send things that have holes and things that

aren't really of great use to people. Like, if you're going to donate something, then make sure that it's worth donating. And here, how much more true for God? That God doesn't deserve our worst.

He deserves our best. And that's true even of the time that we give him, the attention that we give him. Let's give him of our best.

Verse 22, you are not to present any animal to Yahweh that is blind, injured, maimed, or has a running sore, festering rash, or scabs. You may not put any of them on the altar as a fire offering to Yahweh.

You may sacrifice as a free will offering any animal from the herd or flock that has an elongated or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable as a vow offering. So someone says, hey, I've got the sheep.

It's got a little bit long of a leg or a little bit stunted of a leg. I'm not owing this to God for anything. This is just of my free will.

He says, you can do it for a free will offering. But if it's something that you said, okay, God, I'm going to do this thing, and I'm going to bring you a sheep as a result, like it's something that's owed to God by your mouth, not through God's.

He says, don't bring anything that has an elongated or stunted limb to God as a vow fulfillment offering. Verse 24, you're not to present to Yahweh anything that is bruised, crushed, torn or severed testicles.

You must not sacrifice them in your land. Neither you nor a foreigner are to present food to your God from any of these animals. They will not be accepted for you because they are deformed and have a defect.

Don't give of your worst to the Lord. Verse 26, Yahweh spoke to Moses when an ox, sheep or goat is born. It is to remain with its mother for seven days.

From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering, a fire offering to Yahweh. But you are not to slaughter an animal from the herd or flock on the same day as its young.

Here, I forget if we already came across this particular verse earlier during the ceremonial law. It might be in Exodus or in Deuteronomy. There's a statement that says you are not to boil a young calf in the milk of its mother.

It's kind of almost a barbaric practice to kind of mess with the whole family in death at one point. God says that's odd. That seems to degrade even these family units that I have even in the animal kingdom.

And so he says, don't do that. Here, somewhat similar thought on don't have an animal, don't slaughter an animal from the herd or flock on the same day as it's young.

It's just one of those things that God has set up that he does have a care for families, human families first and foremost, but even he has a care for animal families. And I think that's really, really interesting.

Verse 29, when you sacrifice a thank offering to Yahweh, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It is to be eaten on the same day. Do not let any of it remain until morning.

I am Yahweh. It says if you're doing something and you're saying like, thank you, God, we're sharing this offering meal together. It says don't put off enjoying that meal.

Enjoy that relationship with God today. And that's something that is wonderful to have. Don't postpone a relationship with God.

Verse 31, you are to keep my commands and do them. I am Yahweh. You must not profane my holy name.

I must be treated as holy among the Israelites. I am Yahweh who sets you apart, the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Yahweh.

So here, as we look at the priests, not entirely new thoughts. Many of these same things have been expressed throughout the rest of Leviticus. But God here has an importance on the way in which we approach him.

Do we approach him realizing who he is? Think even with the food where he goes, alright, you know, some of these things, touching an unclean animal or something, it's not a sin, it's not a crime against God or man.

But it does make you ceremonially unclean, and you have to postpone eating holy things until the evening comes, you've got a new day, you bathe, you make sure you're clean, and all of it is to point you to the fact that God is holy.

And to remember that many things that we interact with in life, regular, everyday things, are reminders of the wickedness and fallenness of our world.

That, you know, catch your mouse in a mousetrap, and you take the mouse and you throw it in the trash can. Okay, well, then you're unclean until 6 p.m. or so.

And during that time, you go, okay, wow, yeah, death is a result of sin in this world. Or you have things about the generation of life, and you go, man, God is the one that gives life. That's so incredible.

And it's causing you to think about God. So all of these, like, processes are intended to make you think about who God is and what he does and how he's done it and what he's done with the world and why the world is the way it is.

It's meant to remind you of a biblical worldview. And though today you are not under many of these same laws, you can read much in Paul's writings in Galatians and Colossians, among other places, about that.

But in every way in which you interact with the world, think about it through the lens of, okay, what does this tell me about God? How does this relate to who God is?

So maybe today, if you do catch a mouse in a trap, or maybe today if you do look at your kids and you go, wow, God, thank you for what you have done for me. Thank you for what you are working in our world.

Thank you first and foremost for Jesus, that I am saved and I am reconciled to you forever. And all of the ceremonial cleanness and all of the moral cleanness that I need to be in your presence has been provided for me free of charge by Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in. Tomorrow we're going to look at some of the holy days and the festivals and things that God says. Here's how I want you to remember my actions and my wondrous miracles to you, Israel.

Thanks for tuning in, and look forward to studying those with you tomorrow.