FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Habakkuk 1:13 - Job 1:6-12 - TBR Start Page Note: We provide links to specific resources; this is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc. Their views may not represent our own. SHOW NOTES: - Follow The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube - Follow Tara-Leigh Cobble: Instagram - Read/listen on the Bible App or Dwell App - Learn more at our Start Page - Become a RECAPtain - Shop the TBR Store - Credits PARTNER MINISTRIES: D-Group International Israelux The God Shot TLC Writing & Speaking DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact.
Full Episode
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. God is the only person who has spoken in Leviticus so far, and today we continue in the laws for sin offerings. Tomorrow we'll get a bit of a break from sacrificial instructions and we'll hear from some humans, but for now, all of these words are God's words.
One of the things you may have noticed today was the distinction between when the Israelites committed a sin versus when they did something that made them unclean. Being unclean isn't a sin, so it doesn't require an offering. It just requires that they be purified. They don't have to bring a sacrifice. They just have to take a bath or spend some time away from others.
We still do things like this today, quarantining people if they have something we might catch. We tell people to stay home from work if they're contagious. Again, this is not talking about sin. It's talking about uncleanness, and it's almost always related to something hygienic. Some of these hygiene regulations make sense and are especially helpful in a culture that predated modern science.
For instance, not touching dead bodies, that's probably a good idea. Or not eating meat after a certain period of time has passed, because the fridge space available in the wilderness of Sinai was probably pretty limited. Not all the cleanliness laws are straightforward and scientifically logical like that, but some are.
For instance, you may notice that sometimes the cleanliness laws relate to blood. While this may be hygienic, it's also probably more symbolic. Blood can be a confusing symbol in the Old Testament especially. It symbolizes life and death. Obviously, when it symbolizes life, it's a good symbol. But when it's leaving the body, specifically the human body, it symbolizes death or the end of life.
So it's a reminder of the fall. And that's the kind of thing that made a person unclean sometimes, being a reminder of the fall. God is in the process of recreating Eden, so the unclean things have to be distanced from that. Being unclean wasn't intended to be a permanent thing or a symbol of shame. Everyone was unclean at some point. And God takes uncleanness seriously.
Another thing you may have noticed about blood is that since it was a symbol of life, it wasn't supposed to be eaten. It was only supposed to be offered back to God, the giver of life. Today we also saw the phrase, that person shall be cut off from his people, four times. It was always in regard to someone who disrespects the sacrificial laws.
Some people think this refers to isolating that person from the group, while other people think it indicates a premature death. Either way, God makes it clear that his sacrificial laws are to be honored. As we mentioned, sin is a different thing altogether than uncleanness. Sin does require a sacrifice.
I love that God is also attentive to the needs of the poor when it comes to the sacrifices He requires of them. In many of the sacrifices, those who had more are required to give a domestic animal from the flock, one without blemish, the best of the best. But the poor among them don't have animals, much less perfect animals. So he said they can bring birds.
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