Live-Wire Bible Study - Day 40 - Leviticus 21–23 · Hebrews 8 - FeedTheGoodHorse
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Day 40: Leviticus 21–23 · Hebrews 8 · Commentary · Commentary² · Audio
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
Leviticus 21
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
No one is to make himself tamé among his people for a dead person, except for his close relatives: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, and his sister who is a virgin close to him and has not become a man’s wife. For her he may make himself tamé.
He is not to make himself tamé as a husband among his people and so profane himself.
They are not to make bald patches on their head, shave off the edge of their beard, or make cuts in their flesh.
They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the fire offerings of Jehovah, the bread of their God. Therefore they are to be holy.
They are not to take a woman who is a prostitute or dishonored, and they are not to take a woman put away from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
You are to treat him as holy, for he presents the bread of your God. He is to be holy to you, for I, Jehovah, who makes you holy, am holy.
If the daughter of a priest profanes herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father. She is to be burned with fire.
The high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who is ordained to put on the garments, is not to let the hair of his head hang loose or tear his garments. He is not to go in to any dead person or make himself tamé for his father or his mother. He is not to go out from the sanctuary or profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am Jehovah.
He is to take a wife in her virginity. A widow, a woman put away, a dishonored woman, or a prostitute he is not to take. He is to take a virgin from his people as a wife, so that he does not profane his offspring among his people, for I am Jehovah who makes him holy.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Say to Aaron: Any man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect is not to draw near to present the bread of his God. No man who has a defect is to draw near: a blind man, a lame man, one with a disfigured face, one with a limb too long, a man with a broken foot or broken hand, a hunchback, a dwarf, one with a blemish in his eye, a festering skin disease, scabs, or crushed testicles.
No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to present the fire offerings of Jehovah. He has a defect. He is not to come near to present the bread of his God.
He may eat the bread of his God, from the most holy and from the holy. But he is not to go through the veil or draw near to the altar, because he has a defect, so that he does not profane my sanctuaries. I am Jehovah who makes them holy.
Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.
Leviticus 22
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to Aaron and to his sons. They are to separate themselves from the holy things of the sons of Israel that they set apart to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. I am Jehovah.
Say to them: Any man of your offspring throughout your generations who draws near to the holy things that the sons of Israel set apart to Jehovah while his tamé-status is on him is to be cut off from before me. I am Jehovah.
No man of the offspring of Aaron who has a skin disease or a discharge is to eat of the holy things until he is tahor. Whoever touches anything tamé by a dead person, or a man from whom semen goes out, or any swarming thing by which he becomes tamé, or a person by whom he becomes tamé, whatever his tamé-status may be, that person is to be tamé until evening. He is not to eat of the holy things unless he bathes his body in water. When the sun has gone down, he will be tahor. Afterward he may eat of the holy things, for it is his food.
He is not to eat what dies naturally or what is torn by beasts, making himself tamé by it. I am Jehovah.
They are to keep my charge, so that they do not bear sin because of it and die in it when they profane it. I am Jehovah who makes them holy.
No outsider is to eat a holy thing. A resident of a priest or a hired worker is not to eat a holy thing. If a priest buys a person with his money, that person may eat of it, and one born in his house may eat of his food.
If a priest’s daughter becomes a man’s wife, an outsider’s, she is not to eat of the contribution of the holy things. But if a priest’s daughter is a widow or put away, has no offspring, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No outsider is to eat of it.
If a man eats a holy thing by mistake, he is to add a fifth to it and give the holy thing to the priest.
They are not to profane the holy things of the sons of Israel that they contribute to Jehovah and so cause them to bear the iniquity of guilt when they eat their holy things, for I am Jehovah who makes them holy.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them:
Any man of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel who presents his offering, whether of their vows or their freewill offerings, which they present to Jehovah for a burnt offering, is to present it so that it may be accepted: a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.
Anything with a defect you are not to offer, for it will not be accepted for you.
If a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, from the cattle or the flock, it is to be without defect to be accepted. There is to be no defect in it.
Blind, broken, maimed, having a discharge, a festering sore, or scabs, these you are not to offer to Jehovah or place as a fire offering on the altar to Jehovah.
A bull or a lamb that has something too long or too short you may offer as a freewill offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted.
Anything with testicles bruised, crushed, torn, or cut you are not to offer to Jehovah. You are not to do this in your land.
From the hand of an outsider you are not to present the bread of your God from any of these, because their corruption is in them. They have a defect. They will not be accepted for you.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
A bull or a sheep or a goat, when it is born, is to remain with its mother seven days. From the eighth day onward it will be accepted as a fire offering to Jehovah.
You are not to slaughter a cow and her calf, or a ewe and her lamb, on the same day.
When you sacrifice a thanksgiving sacrifice to Jehovah, you are to sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It is to be eaten on that day. You are not to leave any of it until morning. I am Jehovah.
You are to keep my commandments and do them. I am Jehovah.
You are not to profane my holy name. I am to be treated as holy among the sons of Israel. I am Jehovah who makes you holy, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Jehovah.
Leviticus 23
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: The appointed times of Jehovah, which you are to proclaim as holy convocations, these are my appointed times.
Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You are not to do any work. It is a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings.
These are the appointed times of Jehovah, holy convocations that you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Jehovah’s Passover. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Jehovah. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; you are not to do any regular work. You are to present a fire offering to Jehovah seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you are not to do any regular work.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the sheaf of the first of your harvest to the priest. He is to wave the sheaf before Jehovah so that you may be accepted. On the day after the sabbath the priest is to wave it. On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb a year old without defect as a burnt offering to Jehovah. Its grain offering is to be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a fire offering to Jehovah, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin of wine. You are not to eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until that day, until you have brought the offering of your God. It is a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
You are to count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven complete sabbaths. You are to count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath. Then you are to present a new grain offering to Jehovah. You are to bring from your dwellings two loaves of bread as a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as firstfruits to Jehovah. You are to present with the bread seven male lambs a year old without defect, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to Jehovah, with their grain offering and drink offerings, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to Jehovah. You are to offer one male goat as a sin offering and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest is to wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before Jehovah, together with the two lambs. They are to be holy to Jehovah for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a holy convocation. You are not to do any regular work. It is a permanent statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You are to leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Jehovah your God.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the sons of Israel and say: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a sabbath, a memorial proclaimed with trumpet blasts, a holy convocation. You are not to do any regular work. You are to present a fire offering to Jehovah.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
On the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy convocation for you. You are to humble yourselves and present a fire offering to Jehovah. You are not to do any work on that day, for it is a day of atonement to make atonement for you before Jehovah your God. Any person who does not humble himself on that day is to be cut off from his people. Any person who does any work on that day, I will destroy that person from among his people. You are not to do any work. It is a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It is to be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you are to humble yourselves. On the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, you are to keep your sabbath.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the sons of Israel and say: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths to Jehovah for seven days. On the first day is a holy convocation; you are not to do any regular work. For seven days you are to present a fire offering to Jehovah. On the eighth day you are to have a holy convocation and present a fire offering to Jehovah. It is a solemn assembly; you are not to do any regular work.
These are the appointed times of Jehovah that you are to proclaim as holy convocations, to present a fire offering to Jehovah: a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its day, besides the sabbaths of Jehovah and besides your gifts and all your vows and freewill offerings that you give to Jehovah.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you are to keep the feast of Jehovah seven days. On the first day is complete rest, and on the eighth day is complete rest. On the first day you are to take the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you are to rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days. You are to keep it as a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year. It is a permanent statute throughout your generations. You are to keep it in the seventh month. You are to live in booths seven days. All native-born in Israel are to live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of Jehovah.
Hebrews 8
Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest. He sat down at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens. He serves in the holy places and in the true tent that the Lord set up, not a human.
Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore this one also must have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since others offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Moses was warned about this when he was about to set up the tent: “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”
But now he has obtained a more excellent service. In the same way, he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises. If the first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for another.
For, finding fault with them, he says,
“Look, days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will complete a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
Not like the covenant I made with their ancestors
on the day I took them by the hand
to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain in my covenant,
and I turned away from them, says the Lord.
For this is the covenant I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws into their mind
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
They will not teach each one his fellow citizen
and each one his sibling, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoing,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
In saying “new,” he has made the first obsolete. What is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to disappearing.
Commentary - Day 40
Leviticus 21–23 · Hebrews 8
Leviticus 21 narrows the field from the whole congregation to the priests, the sons of Aaron. They are not to make themselves tamé for the dead except for close kin. The high priest narrows further: not for father or mother. The anointing oil and the garments mark him. “He is not to go out from the sanctuary or profane the sanctuary of his God.” Holiness here is proximity guarded by restriction.
Physical defects are listed without commentary: blind, lame, disfigured, broken, blemished. “He has a defect. He is not to draw near.” Yet the same man “may eat the bread of his God.” Access to food remains. Access to veil and altar does not. The distinction is not expulsion from the people but boundary at the sanctuary. “I am Jehovah who makes them holy” closes the section.
Leviticus 22 continues with nearness to holy things. A priest with tamé-status is not to eat of the holy things until he is tahor. Evening, washing, sunset mark the transition. Outsiders are excluded from priestly food; those bought into the household may eat. A priest’s daughter who marries out loses access; if she returns childless to her father’s house, she may eat again. Holiness here attaches to household, to status, to return.
Offerings must be “without defect.” Blind, broken, maimed animals are not accepted. “It will not be accepted for you.” A bull or lamb remains with its mother seven days; from the eighth day it may be accepted. A cow and her calf are not slaughtered on the same day. Time and wholeness govern what approaches the altar. The refrain returns: “You are not to profane my holy name… I am Jehovah who makes you holy, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 23 widens from priestly boundaries to the calendar of the whole people. “These are my appointed times.” Sabbath marks every seventh day in “all your dwellings.” Passover and Unleavened Bread, first sheaf waved before Jehovah “so that you may be accepted,” counting seven complete sabbaths to the fiftieth day, trumpet blasts in the seventh month, the Day of Atonement with humbling and no work, booths in the seventh month so that generations may know that they lived in booths when brought out of Egypt. Time itself is structured as approach.
Harvest and worship interlace. The sheaf is waved before bread is eaten. Counting is commanded before new grain is presented. Gleanings are left again for the poor and the stranger. The calendar is not detached from the field. “You are to proclaim” these times. Convocation, rest, fire offerings, remembrance. The year turns around appointed days that belong to Jehovah.
Across these chapters, holiness is described in terms of nearness and pattern: who may draw near, what may draw near, when drawing near occurs. Defect, tamé-status, household boundary, animal wholeness, counted days, fixed months. “I am Jehovah” gathers priest, people, offering, and calendar under the same name.
Hebrews 8 speaks of “such a high priest” who has “sat down at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens.” He serves “in the true tent that the Lord set up, not a human.” Earthly priests serve “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” Moses was warned to make everything according to the pattern shown on the mountain. The language echoes tent, pattern, and service.
“He has obtained a more excellent service” and is “mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.” The text cites the promise of a “new covenant” in which the law is written “into their mind” and “on their hearts.” “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The knowing of the Lord is described without mediation of neighbor instructing neighbor. “I will remember their sins no more.”
In saying “new,” the former is described as growing old and near to disappearing. Leviticus orders approach through priestly lineage, bodily wholeness, household boundary, animal without defect, counted days and fixed feasts. Hebrews speaks of a priest seated in the heavens, a tent set up by the Lord, and a covenant written within. Pattern remains. The place of inscription shifts.
Leviticus 21 restricts priestly nearness: ordinary priests avoid corpse-tamé except close kin; the high priest avoids it even for parents. Defects bar drawing near the veil or altar, though the priest may still eat the bread of his God. Leviticus 22 governs access to holy food and offerings: tamé-status blocks eating until washing and evening; household boundaries decide who may eat; offerings must be “without defect,” and time limits shape what is accepted. Leviticus 23 orders approach through time: sabbath and appointed feasts structure the year, with rest, convocations, offerings, counting, and remembrance tied to harvest and exodus.
Hebrews 8 names the “true tent” set up by the Lord, says earthly service is “copy and shadow,” and cites a “new covenant” with law written in mind and heart: “I will be their God.”
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