“In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any of these things he did that made him guilty.”
~ Leviticus 6:7
Hi James and Ellen,
Can you think of a life activity that does not have rules? Governments impose rules that come in the guise of laws. Schools enact rules to maintain discipline. Games are played by rules. Rules give direction. Rules establish boundaries. Rules are good. Rules are markers for what a guy, gal or kid can and cannot do. Your grandpaa hopes that your dad and ma have rules in your home which they expect you to obey – rules such as by when you are to have finished your homework, how much time that you can spend playing computer games and what time that you are to go to bed. A home rule allows your dad and/or ma to punish you if you do not obey the home rule. A home rule is an obedience teacher. Your grandpaa grew up with home rules. Your grandpaa knew that if he did not do what his dad said needed to be done that . . . your grandpaa can only remember his dad punishing him once. Your grandpaa knew that he really did not want his dad to become upset with him. Your grandpaa’s dad expected your grandpaa to each evening put ground oats or silage in front of each stanchion where each cow stood that his dad milked using a milking machine. Your grandpaa’s dad expected your grandpaa to milk by hand a couple of cows called Guernseys each morning and evening. If your grandpaa’s dad said to your grandpaa that the gutter needed to be cleaned out or that the barn’s west or south room needed to have the mature hauled out or that straw needed to be carried from the straw stack to the barn as bedding for the cows or that the room or building where your grandpaa’s dad kept pigs needed to be cleaned out or . . . your grandpaa always did what his dad said needed to be done. Do you always do what your dad and/or ma expects you to do or tells you that it needs to be done? Do you know what might happen if your grandpaa drove faster than what a speed limit sign on a street or on a stretch of highway says is the speed limit? Your grandpaa about nine years ago was stopped by a town cop as he was going past Estelline, Texas. The guy was driving a small but obviously very fast black car that had several antennas waving from the back of it. The guy told your grandpaa that your grandpaa was going faster than what the posted speed limit sign said that your grandpaa could go while driving past the outskirts of Estelline. Your grandpaa had to pay a fine for going faster than what a posted speed limit sign said that he could go. Your grandpaa was definitely not a happy camper that he had been caught in a speed trap. Consequences for being caught speeding is having to pay a fine, higher insurance costs and/or driver’s license suspended. Consequences for not obeying a rule that has been enacted at your school is detention, lower grade on a test and/or kicked out of school. Consequences for not obeying a rule in a game is being the guy or gal who is held responsible for his or her team losing the game, kicked out of the game, not allowed to play in the next game and/or not allowed to play anymore on his or her team. Do you know why you do what you do? Your grandpaa wanted his dad to be happy with him versus being angry with him. Do you want to make your dad and/or ma, teacher, coach or authorities happy with you or do you do things because you do not what your dad and/or ma, teacher, coach or authorities angry with you?
God about 3450 years ago sent to planet Earth new worship rules which were to be enforced likes laws. God used an intermediary to receive these new worship rules that He wanted enforced on planet Earth. Moses was the intermediary. Moses and God met on the top of Mount Sinai. God had a particular people group of guys and gals in mind to give His new set of worship rules. This people group of guys and gals who God was giving His new set of worship rules was the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. God had promised first to Abraham, then to Isaac and then to Jacob – who were the three guys who were the three patriarchs of the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, that they were going to be the fathers of a very large, growing family of guys, gals and kids who would live on the same small piece of land that was located east of the Mediterranean Sea that they were living on and which their extended families of guys, gals and kids would always have to live in as their very own land. Moses wrote down in what became known as the Leviticus Book the rules (the laws) that God gave to him on the top of Mount Sinai. Leviticus 6 explains the consequence if one of God’s specially chosen guys for one reason or another ignored or did not obey any one of the laws. Ignoring or not obeying a law would be if a guy deceived another guy, cheated another guy out of something or lied about another guy about something to other guys. A guy could make restitution for the unscrupulous thing that he did to another guy by returning what he had stolen from the guy or pay back what he had taken from the guy or by making right what he had done unlawfully to or what he had said maliciously about the guy. The offending guy was also to add a fifth to the value of whatever it was that he was returning to the guy who he had stolen from or offended. To make restitution to God for what he did or said, the offending guy was to give to the priest a ram from his own flock to be killed by the priest as a sin offering to God.
One guy’s sin brought on a lot of work for a priest to do. The priests – from Aaron to his sons to . . ., had all kinds of rules (laws) to obey as they offered sin offerings to God. The priests also had food preparation rules (laws) to obey as well. Verse 7 says, “In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any of these things he did that made him guilty.”” How glad are you for what God – as God the Son, did on a cross for you where He allowed His blood to be poured out as a sacrificial atonement for all of your sins?
Leviticus 6 (520)