The last several days' readings for me have been all the specifications for sacrifice--what to sacrifice and when, what kind of animal to select, how to prepare it, how to deal with the parts of its body once it has been sacrificed. It's fairly graphic stuff, and while I'm not the most squeamish person, all that talk of the caul of the liver combines about three things I'd rather not contemplate. But I think it's been good for me to read. I keep thinking that if I had to select and kill an animal on a regular basis to atone for my sin, I bet I would be a lot more mindful of what I'm doing. It reminds me of negative reinforcement or something. The sheer unpleasantness would give a person pause. But then I remember what I believe about Christ's sacrifice, and I feel convicted about the low view I often take regarding my sin and how easily I can forget what was required in substituting the Just for the unjust: a much greater lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. In church right now, the pastor has been preaching through Galatians, so I've been thinking a lot about Galatians 3 as I read through the Pentateuch. In my reading, it definitely lends greater significance to laws, which I feel fairly removed from otherwise. (I'll quote the Galatians passage here in the KJV because, well, that's what we're doing. But I like the American Standard Version too, which calls the law our tutor.)
Galatians 3:24-29
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Amen.
I've been really thinking a lot about all of this too. I don't think I realized in the past that the sinner had to kill the sacrificial animal himself (or herself? What do we know about the provisions for women? Was this just a head of household sort of thing that women ended up being covered by?) Having to kill the animal each time you made a sacrifice would certainly emphasize the gravity of one's actions and the consequences they held.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I noticed in today's reading at the end of Leviticus 3 (I think) that there seems to be a distinction between a sin sacrifice and a trespass sacrifice. Does anyone know what the difference between sin and trespass is here?
I love that the law "kept" us"...shut up unto the faith" something like Peter Peter Pumpkin eater that had a wife but couldn't keep her. Without the law, we would not have been kept, rendered unable to receive the faith that would be revealed afterward. Gives one an appreciation for ritual.
ReplyDelete