Scripture: One Book at a Time
The whole of Sacred Scripture is a single narrative that promises and points to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the World. It is an epic story, the greatest ever told, and told "one book at a time." Each book makes it contribution to the narrative as God reveals God's self to us and his desire that all be saved.
Lesson 7: Leviticus
Ritual, Priesthood, and Purity
In our last session we learned about all the events that unfolded on and at the foot of Mt. Sinai – from the giving of the Law to worshiping of the golden calf. In the opening presentation (Presence and the Profane) we framed the chapters in terms of God’s desire to draw us into His holy presence and our pattern of resistance to that holiness. The Book of Exodus gives extensive instructions on how to construct the Tabernacle, the place of God’s presence among the people – and then book ends with Moses being unable to enter the holy place.
The Book of Numbers begins with Moses now able to enter the Holy of Holies. What happened? What happened was the Book of Leviticus.
Last week there was a video on the Old Testament Law as a “warm up” for this week’s overview of the The Book of Leviticus. It would be good to review.
And then watch this week’s two videos. The first video builds upon on the idea of “Presence and the Profane” presented last week, focusing on Holiness – not just in Leviticus, but in other OT books and the New Testament. It brings together the ideas of “presence” and “temple.”
The second video is a overview of the most skipped over book of Sacred Scripture: Leviticus. It wonderfully explains the flow and logic of the details of the Law.
Following both videos is a presentation that looks at two of the purity rituals involving life and death. Also there are two other documents. One on the history of animal sacrifice and the other providing an outline of the book of Leviticus.
For those who would like to explore details of Exodus 19-40, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.