Readings June 2-8

We have all Old Testament readings this week.  Leviticus means "relating to the Levites" because much of it pertains to God's instructions for worship in the tabernacle by priests who were sons of Aaron assisted by men from the tribe of Levi.  It gives the laws and regulations for worship but it also includes instructions about ceremonial cleanness, moral laws, and holy days,  the sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee.  Much of it is obviously written for an ancient society very different from ours but the key thought of Leviticus is holiness.  God has come down and made his dwelling in the tabernacle amongst his people Israel and his people are to respond by being holy, set apart for service for his purposes and glory and to be separated from sin.  Leviticus tells the people how to be holy.  In fact Chapters 17-26 are often called the 'Holiness Code' giving many instructions for holy living.

Chapters 11-15 are all about purity, ceremonial cleanness giving instructions on what is clean and unclean. Chapter 16 is about the annual Day of Atonement.  An important day when the sins of the Israelites are dealt with by both sacrifice and sending a goat off into the wilderness taking all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites with it.  The origin of the scapegoat!
Leviticus can be a tough read but contains many interesting items and it is referred to many times in the New Testament particularly in the book of Hebrews which tells us about Christ as our High Priest.

Ecclesiastes is our second book and it is one of the Wisdom books.  It is the musings of "the Teacher" on the meaning of life, is life worthwhile?  Most of the pleasures of the world are explored and found meaningless. There is that wonderful passage in chapter 3 where there is "a time for everything."

There is only one Psalm this week, Psalm 35, and it is a cry to God for help in distress.
There is so much we can learn in the Old Testament but it sometimes takes a little more digging than in the New Testament.

  2 Leviticus 11 Ecclesiastes 2 Leviticus 12-13
  3 Leviticus 14 Ecclesiastes 3 Leviticus 15
  4 Leviticus 16 Ecclesiastes 4 Leviticus 17-18
  5 Leviticus 19 Ecclesiastes 5 Leviticus 20
  6 Leviticus 21 Ecclesiastes 6 Leviticus 22
  7 Leviticus 23 Ecclesiastes 7 Leviticus 24
  8 Leviticus 25 Ecclesiastes 8 Leviticus 26 Psalm 35