{"id":36368,"date":"2025-06-27T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=36368"},"modified":"2025-06-17T15:29:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T22:29:51","slug":"leviticus-21_1-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/leviticus-21_1-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Loved Despite the Defects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leviticus\u00a0 21:1-24 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Leviticus 21:1-24.\u00a0With a humble heart, see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband–for her he may make himself unclean.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0Leviticus 21:1-4 says that a priest could not touch or get near a dead person unless that person was a close relative, lest he become ceremonially unclean himself and unable to approach God.\u00a0\u00a0Amazingly, in contrast,\u00a0in the gospels we see Jesus\u2019 touching dead people and making them alive.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than Jesus being negatively affected by other people\u2019s \u201cdeadness\u201d, Jesus\u2019 \u201caliveness\u201d made dead people come to life.\u00a0\u00a0Similarly,\u00a0when we were dead in our transgressions, Jesus our great high priest came and touched us and made Himself unclean for us so that we could made alive and clean again. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, note this:\u00a0 if priests could only touch a deceased person if they were a close relative, what that suggests is that to Jesus, we are his close relatives, people who holds dear to himself. \u00a0<\/strong>In Jesus Christ we have a high priest like no other.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:5-6 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-6:\u00a0\u00a0Why was a priest not to shave their head or the edges of their beards or cut their bodies?\u00a0\u00a0It is because, according to scholars, these practices were part of pagan mourning rituals.\u00a0\u00a0God did want people to be confused and think that His priests were serving another god.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:7-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the\u00a0LORD\u00a0am holy–I who make you holy.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother,
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0nor leave the sanctuary of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the\u00a0LORD.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people,
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the\u00a0LORD, who makes him holy.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 7-15:\u00a0\u00a0These verses, in particular verses 7-9 as well as 13-15, show how much God cared about the kind of woman a priest decided to marry or even the kind of woman his daughter grew up to be.\u00a0\u00a0Verse 9 is difficult to digest.\u00a0 It says that the daughter of a priest who later becomes a prostitute must be burned in the fire.\u00a0\u00a0If anything, it shows that God has unrelenting wrath toward sin and toward the defamation of His holy name.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that a priest was not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute (v14), the rest of the Bible would show that God used in hugely significant ways women who were widows, prostitutes and women whose marriages fell apart. For example:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0Ruth was a widow, and yet God used her second marriage to Boaz to ultimately bring forth the Messiah Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0Rahab worked as a prostitute, and yet God used her to also to be an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0Tamar, while working as a prostitute, became pregnant by her father-in-law and gave birth to Perez, who would also be an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:3).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0Bathsheba slept with King David and became pregnant even while she was married to Uriah.\u00a0\u00a0Had Uriah found out, Uriah could have divorced Bathsheba.\u00a0\u00a0Yet God used Bathsheba to give birth to King Solomon and would later become an ancestor of Jesus as well (Matthew 1:6).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the lesson here?\u00a0\u00a0While God was strict with priests about whom they could marry,\u00a0God Himself loves to involve people who come from broken pasts to advance His kingdom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:16-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses,
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed;
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0no man with a crippled foot or hand,
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food;
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the\u00a0LORD, who makes them holy.'”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-24:\u00a0\u00a0Because God is holy and perfect, nothing impure or imperfect can come near Him.\u00a0 Anything or anyone with a defect is considered unworthy to be in God’s presence.\u00a0 That is why Leviticus repeatedly required that an animal without defect be sacrificed to the Lord.<\/p>\n

Yet amazingly,\u00a0when we read the gospels, we see Jesus the Son of God who approaches people with all sorts of defects, whether physical, emotional or character-wise.\u00a0\u00a0He approaches them and shows them grace that changes their lives, in some cases removing their defects altogether.<\/p>\n

God does the same with us today.\u00a0\u00a0When we could not go to God because of our defects, God came to us.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of pushing us away from His presence, Jesus the perfect lamb of God without defect sacrificed Himself on the cross.\u00a0 That way we, despite all our defects, could be brought near to God once again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

God says in verses 8, 15 and 23, \u201cI am the LORD, who makes you\/him\/them holy\u201d.\u00a0 That same God is in the business of making us holy, and He does so in the most self-sacrificially loving way, exchanging His holiness for our sin.<\/p>\n

Thank You God for loving me, letting me into Your presence and using me to advance Your kingdom despite all my defects — all because of Your perfect Son Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0As verses 8 and 17 of our passage today refer to, may I offer to you \u201cthe food of my God\u201d, namely, the fruit of lips that confess Your name and a life lived for Your glory.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Leviticus 21:1-24.\u00a0With a humble heart, see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother,
\n3\u00a0\u00a0or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband–for her he may make himself unclean.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0Leviticus 21:1-4 says that a priest could not touch or get near a dead person unless that person was a close relative, lest he become ceremonially unclean himself and unable to approach God.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36375,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36368\/revisions\/36375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}