Revision of Leviticus 8-12


The priestly office was not to be taken lightly. God appointed Aaron and His sons as priests. It was not something that they took upon themselves.

Aaron and his sons were first washed with water, Leviticus 8:6, clothed with the priestly garments and the turban, vs 7,9, anointed with oil, vs 10, and then consecrated for service, vs 10,12, while offering the sin offering, burnt offering and the ram of ordination and the wave offering too, vs 14,22,27.

This was done over a period of 7 days. *However, before the Lord could appear to them, on the 8th day they had to offer a sin offering, a burnt offering, a peace offering and a grain offering for themselves and the people too, *Leviticus 9″ As they did this, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire from heaven came down and consumed the offering, vs 22-24!

Today, we are called to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that we may proclaim the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, 1 Peter 2:9. Thus similarly, before we get to proclaiming His virtues, we need to confess and forsake all sin, be cleansed by the blood of Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit and fire.

However, if we decide to serve God without being first cleansed from our sin and being anointed with the genuine power of the Holy Spirit, then we are bound to be consumed by God’s wrath, just like Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu were, as time goes by, Leviticus 10.

In Leviticus 11 God gave various laws concerning what could be eaten and what could not, thereby revealing to His people the caution they needed to exercise while mingling with certain classes of people, who had no desire whatsoever to leave their sinful ways and walk in holiness and righteousness before the Lord.

This can be seen from the vision and subsequent explanation that God gave Peter in Acts 10, before he visited Cornelius’ household. “In Leviticus 12, women had to be purified after child birth by means of a sin offering and burnt offering, vs 6, 8, but for different time periods depending on whether they gave birth to a male child or female child. This certainly is not because God is partial, but simply because the women was the first one to be deceived by Satan in the garden of Eden and the curse in Genesis 3:16 involved increase in labour pains while giving birth to children.

So, this lengthened period of time of purification for a female child could serve as a reminder of that mistake made by a woman, and a time for reflection and repentance to never repeat the mistake of being a source of stumbling to a man by suggesting that he disobey God’s Word for any temporal gain, whatsoever.

Let us determine that our lives will count for God in our generation by hearkening to His laws, so that His genuine presence and power may rest upon us and through us serve to influence each one who comes in touch with us to the glory of God!

Rowena Thomas
Mumbai, India.