Numbers 4: Beyond Numbers – Everyone Matters

Numbers 4: Beyond Numbers - Everyone Matters.   It's easy to see why Numbers got its name when reading the first few chapters of the book. It'd be just as easy to dismiss it for the same reason, thinking it's just a set of dry lists of no use or relevance to us. But we'd …

Numbers 3: Subtle Significance at the Start

Numbers 3: Subtle Significance at the Start.   "The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said..." (Numbers 1:1)   The first few words of the Book of …

Numbers 2: Orientation

Numbers 2: Orientation.   I hope you've seen from my first post in this series that Numbers is definitely worth reading and that it's not just a boring set of lists and endless names. What I want to do in this second post is a bit of orientation, to help us find our way around. …

Leviticus for the 21st Century

Leviticus for the 21st Century. So, here we are in the twenty-first century. What are we to do with this book that was written 34 centuries ago? What value does it have for now, so long after its origin? What I’ll be doing in this final post of the series is summarising what I’ve written …

Commands and Consequences

Commands and Consequences. With chapter 26 we come virtually to the end of Leviticus proper. It caps off the whole book and verse 46 summarises everything from the first 25 chapters. This is a chapter of two halves, as complementary as two sides of a coin but at the same time a study of contrasts. …

Grace Disguised

Grace Disguised. People assume that Leviticus = legalism. They think that it’s just a rule-book, only a big long list of dos and don’ts. Even mature Christians can make the mistake of thinking that its only value lies in showing us what things used to be like, and what we’re now spared from. The truth …

Little Steps Closer

Little Steps Closer. The story of the Bible is one of exile and reconciliation. At the beginning of Genesis we chose to go our own way and left God’s presence, and in Revelation the followers of Jesus are welcomed back into paradise. In-between the story is, by stages, one of God bringing us back. Between …

What’s With All The Offerings?

What's With All The Offerings? What’s with all the offerings in Leviticus? The book is chock full of them, and it can get very confusing trying to tell them apart, or understand what they’re for. There are burnt offerings, grain offerings, fellowship offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. What were they? What is the difference …

Context is Everything

Context is Everything. Welcome back to my blog-series on Leviticus. In the first post (which you can find here), I made the case for why we should read it at all. In this second post I want to lay some of the groundwork for reading it in context. For those who know me, context is …

Exodus Round-Up

Exodus Round-Up. I’ve now finished my blog-series on the book of Exodus. This is the third series I’ve done based on books of the Bible, following on from Genesis and Job, going in chronological order.   In this Exodus series we’ve seen how God hears the cries of His people and comes down to rescue …