Let me start off with a few observations. One is, if you’re wondering, I’m reading from The Message. I know it’s a paraphrase and this has bothered me some while reading it, I personally love my American Standard Version and switch back and forth between it and the NIV, but I like how this paraphrase reads aloud for the little ones. But this post is not a debate forum for versions of the Bible.
The one I’m reading is already well-worn and looks like this.
I feel slightly ashamed when I read about how careful the Israelites were to take such care in preparing, building, and moving the tools for God’s work. It makes me understand a little more about why we dress our best for church, why we treat the Bible differently, why we are reverent in our worship. (And for the record, we, as in the Parkers, have not been much at all in any of these areas). I just have a new understanding for the old way of doing things. That it dates back to a much older way of doing things.
Also noteworthy for me from this ancient book is that the Levites had no work of their own outside of the work of the Tabernacle. They were to receive what they got from the first fruits of the people. All the rest of the people that sometimes begrudged that they were God’s chosen from within God’s chosen.
And in those same veins, the materials used for building this tent in the middle of desert were the best. The very best. Gold everywhere for God’s tent. In the desert. It gives me food for thought about the church buildings of now vs. our bodies being the new temples of God. I’m not settled or resolved about how much money a church should put into a building now days or whether my tattoo is a sin or not. But it’s interesting nonetheless. I like thinking about it anyway.
He started chapter 26 out with promises (lovely promises) of what would happen if His people would live by His decrees. It was good to hear such words. These promises were followed closely by what would happen if they refused to obey his commands. Not lovely words, but important to know ahead of time what the consequences would be. There are parenting pointers here if we’ll look closely. Clear directives, clear precise expectations. Followed by clear consequences for the refusal to obey. And the consequences were different for unintentional transgressions versus intentional sins. But it didn’t end there. There was an escape clause. A second chance. The ability to make right what we screwed up so royally. If we would only confess and soften our hearts. (there’s parental application here too, did you catch it?)
We finally finished up Leviticus with the kiddos. It was a loooong book. Or at least it felt like it at times! As I said before, oh the rules, the sicknesses, the blood, the sacrifices, the talk of things I don’t want to talk about yet.
But I knew it was good groundwork. I knew it was laying a foundation for so much more to come in His story for us. In our story. So we kept on. I expected the rules to keep coming but there was a surprise I didn’t remember at the end of Leviticus. A surprise I’m sure the Israelites were surprised by as well. If I think I’m tired of all the rules and blood I can’t imagine how they felt. The law, though good for them, was so very extensive. It wasn’t just the 10 commandments there were lots and lots of how-tos of living in the desert, learning to be free, healthy, and set apart as God’s people. There’s a lot that goes into making a nation. And it’s not always pretty or clean.
So when I got to the end of Leviticus I quietly rejoiced that we were so close to finishing this book. And then I realized there was so much more to rejoice in.
He tells His people (and that includes you and me, you know that, right?) that there will be feasts along the way through the desert. There will be celebrations, parties, remembrances. And then one day, when they have observed one year of rest from the 6 years of work in the fields they will be given an entire year off. A picture of our week. Work six, rest one. And he didn’t say that they would just be on their own to starve during that rest, but that the work of their hands the previous 6 years would yield enough to sustain them for the year they worked, the year they were resting, and the year they were prepping for the new working year. He offered them a 3-in-1 deal. And then He didn’t just offer that rest, He told them when they had worked and rested 7 rounds – 49 years, that on that 50th year they would party like they hadn’t partied before.
Because, see, though he required that they have all these sacrifices – and they were sacrifices, it wasn’t just blood and animals we’ve been reading about, it was all they had, their livelihoods, the whole of who they were and what they did. But some couldn’t afford rams and goats and sheep. Some didn’t have as much as others. And for them he offered a way of giving less. He told them birds would be acceptable when they couldn’t bring more. He knew them and their limitations. He offered a way. A substitution.
But even that wasn’t enough sometimes. Sometimes the people had to put themselves into slavery, into the work of others. They would go, offer their land, their animals, their daily work to someone else. Someone who could provide clothes and food for them. Hard times come. And they don’t just come to the unrighteous. Oh, wait, we’re all unrighteous. So, when you’ve worked for years and years for someone else, scratching to get ahead but never gathering enough to buy back what had once been yours. When it all looks bleak. God brought out the big guns. He brought out a Jubilee. A redemption of God proportions. He said on that year of partying you could be redeemed. You could get back what you had lost. Your animals, your land, and get this.. your freedom. Just like that. When that year came you got a fresh start. At the end of that winter, that week, that night you got a do over! Not because you did everything right. Not because you did anything right. Just because He loves you.
I was crying by this point in my reading to the kids. I was stopping and wiping tears and trying to explain why this was so great. And then I tried to explain that it was more. So much more. Because we don’t even have to wait 49 years. We have it. This was foreshadowing, preparing the way in our hearts to understand and grasp what Jesus would do for us. When we didn’t understand it or deserve it or see it coming.
{If you would like to see the rest of the observations on reading the entire Bible aloud to our kids you can see the page where I have all those posts linked. It’s called, aptly, The Bible and Kids.}
