Made fit for worship

Leviticus 9:1-11:47

Made Fit for Worship

This is my first portion of scripture for the book of Leviticus. Having missed the first two, I would like at a future time to go back and write something on them, but for now I'll focus on this weeks section.

After having built the Tabernacle as a place for God to dwell among His people, the book of Leviticus outlines in detail how to keep the tent, the space around it, and the people who serve in and visit it acceptable for worship. Whenever someone comes around to visit, no doubt there's a frantic clean up at your house as there is at mine. Washing windows, mopping floors, putting away rubbish etc... all in an effort to get the house fit for visitors as we want them to feel comfortable, although for some there may an issue as not wanting to be seen as messy. In a sense, Leviticus (as well as a number of other places in scripture) is God's cleaning and maintenance manual: how to avoid mess, and how to deal with mess. However, these aren't dusting instructions for Moses, but rather dealing with corruption in a fallen world and this weeks passage emphasises the importance of 'cleanliness.'

Chapters 9-11 join Israel's first ever corporate sacrifices, after which the presence of God would fill the Tabernacle in a spectacular fashion. But this time of excitement and awe was ruined by Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu who worshipped in an unauthorised way and then were struck down by God's fire. After this, comes instructions on the 'Kosher laws' which seems out of place, however when we look at this together, we see a holistic picture of worship as being a whole of life devotion to the holiness of God.

God requires a holy space to dwell among His people, and for us to be made clean because while He desires to dwell among His people, He is also a consuming fire. But He made a way through the sacrificial system. The root of the word for sacrifices, Qorban, means that the sacrifices were made to draw us near to God. It was in this sense that the sacrifices had the purpose of restoring God's relationship with humanity and creation. Although the sacrifices cleanse us, their purpose isn't so much a means to deal with our problems, but more significantly as a means for God's intentions to be realised: that He may dwell among His people and to set us apart for His purposes. To deliver the sacrifices correctly, according to the Lord's instructions, requires a clean priest. The ritual at the end of Leviticus 8 shows how this is achieved. However, this was for priests only and not for any old person. It was God's intention to provide a clean priest to make atonement for His people. All this is a Messianic foreshadowing in which through His Son, who serves as the perfect High Priest makes atonement once for all to deal with our sins and bring us into relationship with God. Thus, it is important that we keep the God-centred focus of the sacrifices in mind, not only with regards to the Mosaic sacrificial system, but also with the atonement of Christ. His death and our subsequent forgiveness was not primarily for our benefit, but for His glory. Any any benefit the cross and resurrection brings, ultimately serves to glorify him anyway.

After the initial sacrifices were made, Nadab and Abihu put incense on coals outside the tent, most likely near the altar. This was the wrong place and wrong person as this was the role for the High Priest. The prohibition that follows later in verse 9 strongly suggests they were drunk at the time. While there is some scholarly contention as who what exactly they did wrong, what is clear is that their fault was how they invented their own ways to worship which appear to be contrary to God's prescribed ways. God's strictness is most likely due to the sacrificial system's role of serving the people, but more significantly in the way that it was to foreshadow the coming messiah. The lesson here is that God is Holy, and no one can just approach God however they want hoping that He will see their 'good intentions'. The Lord wants us to worship according to His ways, not our creativity. Now, because scripture does not provide us with an order of service, there is flexibility. But we need to remember that sometimes our creativity can contradict His ways. 

The food laws that follow are a continuation of the theme of food and eating and serve as a description of what it looks like to live as a person set aside by God. Thus, eating clean food or any other religious ritual does not make one clean, but rather identifies the one who has been made clean, as with all obedience. Jesus rebuked those who place ritual above ethics, such as in the story of the Good Samaritan, where the priests concerned more with their ritual purity and didn't help the man who looked dead (Luke 10). He also rebuked those who hoped in ritual to cover over their sin. In Matthew 23, He said " you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." After the incident with Nadab and Abihu, Aaron was told by the Lord that He was to distinguish between the clean and the unclean and to teach the people how to do the same (Lev 10:8-11).

The label unclean is not necessarily a moral category, but is very rarely used in that way(e.g. Job 14:4), but rather a ceremonial status: unsuitable for worship. However, to defile the holy with the unclean is. For instance, later in Leviticus 15:31, God declares "...you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.” The New Testament uses unclean (akathatos, also used in LXX, e.g. Lev 11:8) most often to describe unclean spirits, thus being used in moral sense, most possibly because in Greek this is the common meaning of the word, as we see in the works of Plato: "For the wicked man is unclean [akathatos] of soul, whereas the good man is clean; and from him that is defiled no good man, nor god, can ever rightly receive gifts" [Laws 4.716]. Nonetheless, it is still occasionally used in a ritualistic sense (Acts 10:14), meaning it is still within the words semantic range, however the word common is used more often due to the evolving terminology in Judaism. This change in usage also suggests a reinforcement of the idea that ceremonial ritual can't cover over sins.

So because anything that is described as unclean is prohibited to mix with holy, steps were to be taken to reach cleanliness when the people became contaminated. The prohibited foods listed in Leviticus are called unclean, or tamai , ans is an irreversible label; nothing can make then clean (tahor). Although there are some interesting ideas as to what made them unclean, at the end of the day all we can say is 'because.' 
There are also some theories as to why they were prohibited. there is some wisdom in matters of hygiene etc... but the bible makes no mention of this idea. But think about it, if negative consequences of sin can be avoided, such as the use of contraception with pre/extra marital sex, does that make it acceptable? Of course not. There may be symbolic/ethical lessons drawn from their prohibition, but to relegate it primarily, or only as  Origin did, is to interpret the Bible with a Platonic philosophy, or Gnostic ideologies, that sees the material world as irrelevant. This idea is contradicted often by Paul in his letters, in particular in 1 Corinthians.
The ultimate reason, and only reason provided is in Leviticus 11:45: 

"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." 

The purpose of the food laws was to set the people apart from the surrounding nations who did not worship God. Because the unclean was not to come into contact with the holy, the set apart people of God were to avoid eating unclean food. While I have dealt extensively with the relevance of food laws elsewhere, what they can teach us about holiness should suffice here.

Nothing has changed since Jesus. The set apart people of God are still to live set apart lives: "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1Pet 1:14-16). If those redeemed from Egypt were to distinguish themselves from the surrounding nations, how much more should those redeemed from sin and death by the blood of Jesus live holy lives. His blood as the perfect high priest has cleansed us, and therefore we are to reflect this with our lives, pursuing holiness in our worship and everyday lives to demonstrate this. 


References:
Hegg, Tim (2008). Parashah 82. Torah Resource. https://www.torahresource.com/pdf-weekly-parashah/parashah-082.pdf

Sprinkle, Joe (1996). Clean, Unclean. Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Baker Books. p100-102.