Week 8
Leviticus 19-27 and Luke 1-12
For the first part of this week’s reading, I’m really curious- What was going on with these camps back in Moses’s day?! We first see this back in Exodus, but again God is giving VERY specific instructions- on what is ok, what is not ok, and what to do when someone breaks the rules.
In our home, we don’t typically create a rule unless we have that problem or maybe if that problem is reasonably predictable. For example, we set a bedtime because (a) we know that our kids have to sleep and know that they push back and don’t just go to bed on their own and (b) if they don’t go to bed on time, we all pay the price the next morning! We set the expectation that our kids get milk or water with dinner, no juice because (a) we know they are going to eat dinner and need a drink and (b) they are going to ask for juice but then they won’t sleep because of the extra sugars in the juice.
God is making these “rules” and giving Moses these commandments to communicate to Aaron and the Israelite people, that must mean these people who are setting up camps as they journey through the dessert are stealing, lying, and worse!
Ok, ok ok ok, let’s keep up with Stortz and hop back to the New Testament in Luke-
Right off the bat in Luke- I’m already feeling like this may be my favorite book of the Bible. First of all, I work at a school so I am fully aware you aren’t supposed to have favorites. I would imagine the Bible has the same rule- the whole book is God’s word! So maybe we’ll just keep that our little secret 🤫 but I still think this one is my favorite 😉
Luke is basically saying hey Theophilus, I wasn’t there but I’ve researched it and here are my findings of why you should believe the other people that have written and told of the account of Jesus. Strong start!
When we are introduced to Zechariah and Elizabeth, anyone else immediately start having flashbacks to Abraham and Sarah- faithful couple, serving God, barren, promised a child in their old age ✅
What really sticks out to me here is the conversation between Zechariah & Gabriel takes place- TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. Ok so the Israelites reached the promised land, how many years ago? These people are settled enough to have created and be living in towns so I’m assuming they are no longer just wandering around following a pillar of light in the desert. BUT they are still following the commands of at least having the altar of incense! The reason that strikes me is that, at this point the New Testament didn’t exist yet and I don’t think the Old Testament was widely distributed so that has to mean the priests or the leaders have been diligently passing down, at least some of, the commands God gave Moses way back when! How cool is that?!
My other initial takeaway here is how each of the gospels so far have been the same yet different- Matthew started out with the wisemen and Jesus’s birth; the angel visiting Joseph in a dream. Mark goes straight into Jesus’s adult life, picking right up where John the Baptist leaves off. Luke is going back to Jesus’s birth but goes a little further back to cover John’s birth and the angel visiting Mary. So back to what we talked about last week- this is important enough for basically the same story to have now been covered 3 times and from slightly different viewpoints. How else can we basically be hit over the head with this- to me this is the teacher thumping a book on the desk screaming “THIS IS IMPORTANT! LISTEN TO ME!! Turn your ears on; I’m going to tell you again, ONE. MORE. TIME.”
Anything really jumping out at you here? Something maybe you haven’t noticed or thought about before?