As I continue reading through the Bible this year, I have completed Leviticus and am now halfway through Numbers. Have you read through these books? If you have then you know what they are about. If not, let me give you a brief synopsis.
They are about Rules and Regulations. The are God's direction on how to handle almost any situation. What type of offering needs to happen to become clean, when you are clean vs. unclean. God describes when your uncleanliness requires you to be removed from the camp and when it doesn't, etc.
If you are reading through the Word, Genesis and Exodus can be really exciting. There is a lot of things happening, lots of excitement to draw you in as a reader. However, when you get to Leviticus and Numbers things start to slow down a bit. There is a lot of repetition, as the resolution for a lot of the sins God refers to are the same.
However, if you know me very well, I love Rules! I often wonder if I love rules a little too much. There are some of you who think I probably do, and that is okay so you don't need to comment on that. As someone with that "administrator" gene in my DNA, I love reading through Leviticus and Numbers. Of course, it does get repatitious and sometimes a bit boring, but the whole time I am saying "Yeah! More rules, spell it out for them! That's what they need!"
Why the rules? Why did God have to lay so many restrictions and rules out for the Israelites? The Lord was about to lead them into the promised land in Canaan. The Cananites were...shall we say...living for the World! The Lord was trying to "protect" the Israelites like a parent protects a child. In addition, these people did not understand disease or cleanliness. God was teaching them how to survive, down to the finest detail.
Not to be a spoiler and give away the plot...but it doesn't work. As I continue to read, knowing what is coming in the next 60+ books of the Bible, I can't help but wonder if I could EVER keep the rules that the Lord has set out. I don't know that I am strong enough. I want to be and would try to be, but I am not sure I could succeed.
It is then that I realize that God realized we can't. God also realized that he was going to have to send someone to this earth to live a perfect life and die for my sins, so that I could succeed, in the eyes of the Lord.
For this I am EXTREMELY grateful; not so that I don't have to try hard to live a life honoring to God, I try and do that every day. It is because no matter how hard I try to keep the "Law" I will always fail at some point. Through the Grace of Jesus Christ, I still have a chance!
But I still love the rules!
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