Chapter One
LEVITICUS 8-9 22 He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons
laid their hands on its head. 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and
put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe
of his right foot. 24 Moses also brought Aaron's sons forward and put some of the blood on
the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of
their right feet. Then he sprinkled blood against the altar on all sides. 25 He took the fat,
the fat tail, all the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, both kidneys and
their fat and the right thigh. 26 Then from the basket of bread made without yeast, which
was before the Lord, he took a cake of bread, and one made with oil, and a wafer; he put
these on the fat portions and on the right thigh. 27 He put all these in the hands of Aaron
and his sons and waved them before the Lord as a wave offering. 28 Then Moses took
them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an
ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire. 29 He also took
the breast-Moses' share of the ordination ram-and waved it before the Lord as a wave
offering, as the Lord commanded Moses.
30 Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and
sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he
consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.
31 Moses then said to Aaron and his sons, "Cook the meat at the entrance to the Tent of
Meeting and eat it there with the bread from the basket of ordination offerings, as I
commanded, saying, a 'Aaron and his sons are to eat it.' 32 Then burn up the rest of the
meat and the bread. 33 Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days,
until the days of your ordination are completed, for your ordination will last seven days.
34 What has been done today was commanded by the Lord to make atonement for you.
35 You must stay at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and
do what the Lord requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded."
36 So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.
The Priests Begin Their Ministry
9 On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of
Israel. 2 He said to Aaron, "Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for
your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the Lord. 3 Then say to
the Israelites: 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb-both a year old and
without defect-for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to
sacrifice before the Lord, together with a grain offering mixed with oil. For today the Lord
will appear to you.'"
5 They took the things Moses commanded to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the
entire assembly came near and stood before the Lord. 6 Then Moses said, "This is what the
Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you."
7 Moses said to Aaron, "Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt
offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for
the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded."
8 So Aaron came to the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. 9 His
sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into the blood and put it on the
horns of the altar; the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. 10 On the
altar he burned the fat, the kidneys and the covering of the liver from the sin offering, as
the Lord commanded Moses; 11 the flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp.
12 Then he slaughtered the burnt offering. His sons handed him the blood, and he
sprinkled it against the altar on all sides. 13 They handed him the burnt offering piece by
piece, including the head, and he burned them on the altar. 14 He washed the inner parts
and the legs and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar.
15 Aaron then brought the offering that was for the people. He took the goat for the
people's sin offering and slaughtered it and offered it for a sin offering as he did with the
first one.
16 He brought the burnt offering and offered it in the prescribed way. 17 He also brought
the grain offering, took a handful of it and burned it on the altar in addition to the
morning's burnt offering.
18 He slaughtered the ox and the ram as
the fellowship offering for the people. His
sons handed him the blood, and he sprinkled
it against the altar on all sides. 19 But
the fat portions of the ox and the ram-the
fat tail, the layer of fat, the kidneys and the
covering of the liver- 20 these they laid on
the breasts, and then Aaron burned the fat
on the altar. 21 Aaron waved the breasts
and the right thigh before the Lord as a
wave offering, as Moses commanded.
22 Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the
people and blessed them. And having sacrificed
the sin offering, the burnt offering
and the fellowship offering, he stepped
down.
23 Moses and Aaron then went into the
Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they
blessed the people; and the glory of the
Lord appeared to all the people. 24 Fire came
out from the presence of the Lord and consumed
the burnt offering and the fat portions
on the altar. And when all the people
saw it, they shouted for joy and fell face-down.
The Death of Nadab and Abihu
10 Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu
took their censers, put fire in
them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to
his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and
they died before the Lord. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of
when he said:
"'Among those who approach me
I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people
I will be honored.'"
Aaron remained silent.
DISCOVERING GOD
10:1-3
Life with God
We all have heard people flippantly call God
names such as "the big guy upstairs." Surely
such offhand comments don't bother God-or
do they?
The problem with such comments is that
they distort and minimize God's authority and
character. God wants people to know him as
he is-the all-powerful creator and ruler of the
universe.
This passage shows God's strong response
to a disrespectful attitude. As leaders of the
people, Aaron's sons had a high degree of responsibility
for maintaining a high view of God.
When they failed to follow God's specific instructions
for worship, they set a negative example
for the rest of the nation-and received
God's punishment for doing so.
Yes, God is personal and wants a relationship
with you. But do not think that the creator
of the galaxies is simply a passive spirit
in the sky. In the words of author C. S. Lewis,
God "is not a tame lion." We must approach
him, therefore, with utmost respect.
JOB 20-21
17 He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
19 For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.
20 "Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
21 Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.
23 When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him
and rain down his blows upon him.
24 Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
25 He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors will come over him;
26 total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.
A fire unfanned will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.
27 The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.
28 A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.
29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God."
Job
21 Then Job replied:
2 "Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 "Is my complaint directed to man? Why should I not be impatient?5 Look at me and be astonished; clap your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.
7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?8 They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not upon them.
10 Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute.
13 They spend their years in prosperity
and go down to the grave in peace.
14 Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?'
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
17 "Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?
19 It is said, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his sons.'
Let him repay the man himself, so that he will know it!
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care about the family he leaves behind
when his allotted months come to an end?
22 "Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?
23 One man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease,
24 his body well nourished, his bones rich with marrow.
25 Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.
26 Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 "I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 You say, 'Where now is the great man's house, the tents where wicked men lived?'
29 Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts-
30 that the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, that he is delivered from the day of wrath?
31 Who denounces his conduct to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
32 He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to him; all men follow after him, and a countless throng goes before him.
ROMANS 6-7
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you
used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness,
so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were
slaves to sin, you were free from the control
of righteousness. 21 What benefit did
you reap at that time from the things you
are now ashamed of? Those things result
in death! 22 But now that you have been set
free from sin and have become slaves to
God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness,
and the result is eternal life. 23 For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
An Illustration From Marriage
7 Do you not know, brothers-for
I am speaking to men who
know the law-that the law has authority
over a man only as long as he lives? 2 For
example, by law a married woman is
bound to her husband as long as he is
alive, but if her husband dies, she is released
from the law of marriage. 3 So then,
if she marries another man while her husband
is still alive, she is called an adulteress.
But if her husband dies, she is released
from that law and is not an adulteress,
even though she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the
law through the body of Christ, that you
might belong to another, to him who was
raised from the dead, in order that we
might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were
controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful
passions aroused by the law were at work
in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for
death. 6 But now, by dying to what once
bound us, we have been released from the
law so that we serve in the new way of the
Spirit, and not in the old way of the written
code.
Struggling With Sin
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have
known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting
really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity
afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart
from law, sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment
came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was
intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded
by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin
might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that
through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do
not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And
if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I
myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is,
in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep
on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin
living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
Continues.
