2.16.2005

but is completely

For many, Lev presents the greatest challenge to reading through the Bible. Lev focuses on so many very specific details and laws and this and that that everything seems to bog down as a matter of course. You have law after law saying the punishment for this is this, unless it was that in which case that, unless the this is female then this. You then have the building of the this and that with this and that material in this and that pattern facing this direction. Then you have the whole uncleanness with the this being unclean and then touching that making that unclean unless this thing disappears after seven days or until that appears after seven days.

And I'm not even mentioning the sin and the grain and the wave and the guilt.

All of this is done on purpose, methinks. Because in the thick of it comes Lev11:44-45 clarifying the reasoning for all of it. And Lev (and Ex and Deut and Numb, don't forget) all paint the early context of the impossible-to-meet standards of perfection. Bog down now and appreciate the cleanness and directness of the only means of satisfying a perfect law.

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