In these chapters, Moses lays out for the entire nation of Israel, the law of God and the resulting punishments for breaking those laws. He ends the passage by setting a higher standard for the priests, starting with Aaron and his sons.
After
reading through these laws, I’m certainly glad that I didn’t live in Old
Testament times. While these laws are
certainly honorable and definitely worth trying to abide by today, the
punishment for breaking the laws was often severe, often resulting in
death. But why were these laws established? The nation of Israel needed a way to separate
from the world and be holy. These laws
did not provide a way to salvation or righteousness after salvation. They were merely a set of standards by which
to live.
Standards
in and of themselves are not bad. It is
when we believe that by following any set of rules we can gain favor with God
or earn our salvation, that we give more power to the rules and devalue the
gift of Christ’s death on the cross.
God’s word gives us all we need for life and godliness, and the
atonement paid at the cross should be the driving factor for our lives. It’s why we do what we do.
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