Mathews Leviticus (ESV Edition)

Holy God, Holy People
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4335-6577-9
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 304 Seiten

Reihe: Preaching the Word

Leviticus is the message God spoke to his people through Moses as they prepared to depart for the promised land. It details regulations for holy living and sacrificial worship in Old Testament Israel. But does this book have anything to say to Christians today? Aware of how easy it is to get lost in the rules and rituals outlined in Leviticus, Kenneth Mathews focuses this commentary on the common themes between Old Testament life and the New Testament Christian's experience. His chapter-bychapter analysis illuminates the significance of ancient Israel's sacrificial system and symbols, drawing parallels to Jesus as their perfect, once-for-all fulfillment. This commentary will train you to see the foreshadowing of Jesus's sacrifice and the many ways a holy God atoned for our sin through Christ, so that you may teach and apply the truths of this foundational book with confidence.

Kenneth A. Mathews (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Michigan) is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches Old Testament and Hebrew. Kenneth and his wife, Dea, have two adult children and seven grandchildren.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mathews, Kenneth A.

Leseproben

1

Hearing from God before Seeing God

Leviticus 1:1

God has spoken that we might believe, and that believing we might see.

Our image-driven culture in the West operates as the Chinese proverb recommends: “Hearing about something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once.”1 We often say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” We typically give priority to seeing over hearing. Home video cameras and surveillance cameras have caught events serendipitously and broadcasted them as part of our “reality” culture. Perhaps we are caught off guard by the Bible’s picture of God who speaks before he shows himself. At creation God spoke the worlds into existence, and at Sinai the Lord created the nation Israel by his commanding word (Genesis 1; Exodus 20). The New Testament tells us that faith comes by hearing, and this hearing fosters belief in those things not seen (Romans 10:14–17; Hebrews 11:1). Jesus commended those who had heard and believed in his resurrection, though they had not seen him. “Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).

When God Speaks

Leviticus begins in the same manner, giving priority to the word of the Lord (1:1). The book continues the prior account in Exodus 40:34, 35 that describes the completion of the Tent of Meeting at Mount Sinai. Leviticus begins with God summoning Moses to hear his word spoken “from the tent of meeting.”2 What the Lord created at Sinai was a nation, formed by a covenant-relationship of trust, and he manufactured a home in their midst for his dwelling-place—that is, “the tent of meeting.” In a word he established a relationship with the slaves who had been incarcerated in Egypt. This relationship was based on the redemption he achieved on their behalf by the blood of the Passover lamb. Salvation came before relationship. At the Red Sea the Lord liberated his people from Egypt’s armies.

“The tent of meeting” was a portable tent. It was the transient epicenter of the world in the eyes of Israel. A movable ground zero, so to speak, so that the focus of Israel’s attention was always directed toward the tabernacle that was at the center of their lives wherever they moved about. American life once made the fireplace or hearth the vital center of family life where meals were prepared and where the family enjoyed its light and warmth. Now living areas in our homes have the entertainment center as the focal point. The hub of ancient Israel’s national life was the tabernacle, the visual reminder of God’s presence. It was the vital center of Israel’s experience and identity.

Before the people departed for their promised homeland in Palestine (ancient Canaan), the Lord spoke from the tent. The book of Leviticus is essentially the message that God spoke to his people at that time in preparation for their departure. The teaching of Leviticus was both revelatory and regulatory.3 This message revealed more about their God and also regulated the relationship that he had established with them at the exodus. Repeatedly in Leviticus we are told that the Lord “spoke to [Moses]” (1:1).4 Moses was the mediator of God’s word to his people. Unlike any other person, the Lord met with Moses: “With [Moses] I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord” (Numbers 12:8). At Sinai the mount was enveloped by a cloud that was identified as “the glory of the Lord” from which the Lord spoke to Moses. The language that begins the book is an exact echo of God’s revelation to Moses at Sinai in Exodus 24:16: “The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.” Moses actually entered into the cloud on top of the mountain and remained there for forty days and nights (Exodus 24:18).

Although the people saw “the glory of the Lord,” it was not a cloud of benevolent revelation for them: “Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel” (Exodus 24:17). In fear they distanced themselves from the mountain (Exodus 24:17, 18). In the book of Leviticus we discover that the people, however, gladly saw “the glory of the Lord” after the priests prepared the way by instituting the first sacrifices in the tabernacle: “And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces” (9:23, 24).

God has spoken that we might believe, and that believing we might see.

From the mountain. The Lord delivered the covenant (Exodus 20—24), instructions for building the tabernacle (Exodus 25—40), and the regulations found in the book of Leviticus at Sinai. The opening words of Leviticus assume the Sinai location, and the book concludes with a special mention of “Mount Sinai” (27:34). The people resided on the mountain for about a year and a half (cf. Exodus 19:1, 2; Numbers 10:11). During this period the Lord provided the regulations for worship and holy living in Leviticus across a month’s time (Exodus 40:17; Numbers 1:1). The importance of “Sinai” for the setting of Leviticus shows the strategic magnitude of the revelation that God gave regarding worship and holy living. It was the site of revelation, promise, and command. It was the first place where Moses encountered the Lord (Exodus 3:1–4; Acts 7:30) and the place where the Lord gave Israel the two tablets of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 31:18). Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5—7) had parallel significance for Christians. It was the place of revelation. Jesus painted the profile of righteous citizenship for kingdom citizens. Moreover, the transfiguration of Jesus occurred on a mountain (Matthew 17:1–8). And a cloud too rested over Jesus and his disciples from which the Father spoke. Jesus’ face and garments radiated the glowing majesty of God. Jesus as the Son of God embodied the glory of the Lord as truly God (2 Peter 1:16–18).

Israel associated “Sinai” with the majesty of God whose presence shook the earth and whose voice was like thunder (Exodus 19:16–19; 20:18–21; Deuteronomy 4:11, 12). The smoke and fire of God’s appearance at the mountain forever marked the people’s vision of God’s blazing glory (Psalm 104:32; Habakkuk 3:6). Moses himself was utterly petrified with fear (Acts 7:32; Hebrews 12:21). But we who know the Lord Jesus have not come to Mount Sinai with trembling. The writer to the Hebrews declares that we who know Christ have come to the heavenly Mount Zion, the heavenly abode of all who have faith in the Lord (Hebrews 12:18–24). We have no fear but rather confidence in the eternal destiny to which our pilgrimage here on earth will lead. This heavenly citizenship was accomplished through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

From the tent. Although the Lord was remembered for his revelation at the mountain, the people could not remain at the mount if they were to receive God’s provision of the promised land. The mountain was immovable. There were no more “Sinai’s” along the desert trek. The Lord therefore furnished a portable “Sinai,” the tabernacle shrine where God might reside among his people wherever he might lead them. We are familiar with the advantages of portability in our high-tech society. For example, the popular computer-based iPod enables a person to carry on the small digital device up to 5,000 musical songs. Whenever the cloud that hovered above the tabernacle moved, the people knew to set off on another stage of their journey. The regulations of Leviticus fit between the two descriptions of the movements of the tabernacle in Exodus 40:36–38 and Numbers 9:15–23. Those two passages are like bookends that highlight the portability of the tabernacle but also reinforce the importance of God’s presence among his people. They were not to take one step apart from the presence of God. Moses met with God at the tent and there received the assurance of God’s word and presence.

That the Lord’s revelation to Moses was as authentic at the tent as it had been at Mount Sinai was shown in two ways. First, there was a correspondence between the three divisions of the tent and the three circles of holiness that ascended to the summit of the mountain.5 The tent consisted of two rooms, separated by a curtain. The inner room of the tent was...