Brief Notes on Leviticus 25-27

(Originally Written April 26, 2008 in the Journal)

May the Lord find favor with His ailing servant. May He forgive me of all my sins and transgressions. May He have compassion on me in my great sorrow. My body aches with pain of heart. How can such things occur? Why must I suffer while the wicked go unpunished?

All men are wicked and evil in spirit and heart. I am no different. Lord only you know the full extent of malice and rage in me. I am weak and failing still. My health deteriorates ever more. I taken no pleasure in food or sleep and find no solace in anything anywhere whatsoever. How have I fallen so far?

Did I not follow you to Canada? Did I not relent and return to Taylor? Did I not submit and forgo my earthly ambitions to allow another's? Did I not give in to you? Did I not submit myself humble and prostrate before the Lord? If I did not I do so now. Find favor with me oh Lord my God. Turn me not away broken and ashamed. Grant me the easy yoke and light burden you promised. Do not break me beyond the point of repair.

All and all though and even still through deeper torment and agony I will joyfully declare the goodness of the Lord to all the world. What are these suffering times in comparison to the eternal glory of the Lord? Who am I to complain of such trifles? I am a child of the living God and heir to the Heavenly fortune. That is sufficient for me. The Lord is more than sufficient; He is abundance. May your name be praised by every tongue on earth and in Heaven. The Lord is good and just and righteous. The Lord is King of all and deals with a soft hand. Though our burdens may seem too heavy the Lord carries on through.

Grant me the strength to venture through today. Grant me the peace to make it through this dark hour of my marriage. Let me feel your love and love at all. I am so alone Lord. Come and comfort me. I beg of you. Take pity on me.

Notes on Leviticus

Chapter 25 - Constitutional laws regarding property

Chapter 26 -

If the Israelites are obedient then God will reward them. He will keep trouble away from them.

If the Israelites will not heed the precepts and commandments of the Lord, the Lord will defy them. He will destroy their nation and their confidence. But he will not eliminate them because of His covenant with them.

Chapter 27

Laws on how to redeem things given out to the Lord.

First-borns cannot be redeemed because they already belong to the Lord.

I am a first-born Lord; I belong to you. You may do with me as you see fit. Do not destroy me if you can spare it. But, if you cannot, I will walk willingly into the flames. For I am yours, forever and ever.

Brief Notes on Leviticus 14-25

(Originally Written April 25, 2008 in the Journal)

Why do you continue to test me Lord? Why must I go through this daily? Is it not enough to have her be unsure of her commitment to me that you allow her to continue to test the boundaries of marriage time and time again? A man must not divorce his wife. I will obey, but marriage should be joyful, is it not ordained by you? Why do I have to suffer so much? Hear me Lord? Reach out your hand and rescue me! May your will be done and may you keep me in your favor. Protect her tonight from the enemy and cast this doubt out of my heart. May you be praised forever and ever.

Notes on Leviticus

Chapter 14 - Ritual purification of individuals and houses with leprosy

Chapter 15 - Personal uncleanness
A person who is unclean cannot enter the Dwelling of the Lord for if they do they will die.
Who is Azazel?

Chapter 16 - Ritual atonement for Israel's sins

Chapter 17 - No more shall Israel sacrifice to satyrs.
No one can offer sacrifices anywhere but the Dwelling
No one can partake of blood

Chapter 18

Men will find life through keeping the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
There shall be no sex with any relative, blood or by marriage, because that is disgraceful.
You shall not have sex with a man because that is an abomination.
No bestiality. It is abhorrent.
Doing sexually immoral things defiles the land where it happens.

Chapter 19 - Moral decrees
Why are they moral, not legal decrees? Because they defile?

Chapter 20 - Penalties for sin
"Sanctify yourselves, then, and be holy; for I, the Lord, your God, am holy" (Leviticus 20:7, New American Bible).
Sins that demand death demand so because the committers forfeit their lives in the act. Those put to death have no one to blame but themselves.

Chapter 21

Priests must follow special rules because they offer up food for God.

The sons of Aaron who are deformed may not serve as priests, but may partake of the sacred food.

Chapter 22 - Ritual regulations pertaining to sacrifice

Chapter 23 - Holy Days

The Sabbath belongs to the Lord.
Passover/Feast of the unleavened bread
Pentecost
New Year's day
The Day of Atonement
The Feast of Booths

Chapter 24

The laws are for natives and aliens alike.
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life.

Chapter 25

The Sabbatical Year (7th)
The Year of Jubilee (50th)
The land belongs to the Lord, the Israelites are merely tennants.

Brief Notes on Leviticus 1 - 13

(Originally Written April 23, 2008 in the Journal)

Lord, I feel drained and lonely. I have no joy, no hope and am struggling to maintain faith. Why would you join me to a woman who would do nothing but rip me apart? Are you not the all-good God? Are you not the merciful one?

Why do you allow me to suffer so? You know my struggles Lord. This prayer does not fall on deaf ears. You are the living God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob and of Moses. Am I not part of the Chosen now? Have I not been redeemed by the blood of Christ? Why then do I still suffer? Why are my cries not answered? How many tears must I shed? How much hurt must I feel?

But, you are the all-good God. You are my shepherd. You are my solace. In you alone I trust. You alone do I bow to worship. You alone I praise. I praise you in the good and the bad. I thank you for my struggle and my trials. I relish these as chances to grow closer to you. Lord take this pain away. Restore my marriage. Restore her to me and to you. But if I must suffer this I will do so gladly. Give me a little comfort and a little strength to make it through today. Hear my prayers.

Exodus 39

The book of exodus sets out the rules and regulations for the Israelites to remain ritually pure. God set these up to make the Israelites holy, to set them apart from all humanity. The holiness of the Israelites is a witness to the Glory and Holiness of God.

Leviticus

Chapter 1 - Holocaust offering instructions
Chapter 2 - Cereal offering instructions
Chapter 3 - Peace offering instructions
Chapter 4 - Sin offering instructions for the priests, the community, the princes and private persons

It is interesting that sin offerings are made for those who inadvertently sin.

Chapter 5 - Sin or unclean offerings are made for those who cannot afford animals.

In order to be forgiven, one must first confess.
Even if one sins inadvertently he is guilty and must make a sacrifice

Chapter 6 - Daily offerings explained

Holiness is an all encompassing, overarching commitment. The fire must be kept burning on the altar.

Chapter 7 - Guilt and sin offerings are similar

The priest who makes the sacrifice may keep the hide for himself and eat it in a sacred place.
The Israelites cannot eat any fat or blood. The blood and fat are sacrifices to the Lord.

Chapter 8 - Aaron and his sons are anointed.

"This is what the Lord orders you to do that the glory of the Lord may be revealed to you" (Leviticus 9:6, New American Bible).

Lord, what must I sacrifice to have your glory revealed to me? No question will be refused. No request is too great. Life and limb I offer you. Even her, whom I love more deeply than anything else in this world, I offer you to see your glory.

Chapter 10 - Aaron's son Nadab and Abihu are killed by the Lord for offering an unsacred offering.

Priests are responsible for themselves, but also for the people. They must be able to distinguish between clean and unclean, between sacred and profane. They must teach the people the Laws of the Lord. The priests eat the portion of the offering allotted to them to bear the guilt of the people and make atonement.

Chapter 11 - Clean and unclean foods

The people must be holy because the Lord is holy.

Chapter 12 - The uncleanness of child birth

Chapter 13 - The uncleanness of leprosy

Theories of salvation

(Originally written March 22, 2006 in 3 Subject)

Historic Christian Thought

1. Expiation - "removal of sin"

Scapegoat (Leviticus 16)
-Israel's sin 'laid upon' the goat
-No blood
-The goat 'scapes' - escapes
-The guilt of sin is removed

Romans 3:25 RSV 'expiation' translates from the Greek "hilasterion"

2. Propitiation

Propitiation - "to appease" another's anger

-Divine wrath against sin is propitiated by Christ's sacrificial death
-Sacrificial goat (Leviticus 16), blood sacrifice

Romans 3:25 is translated as propitiation from the Greek "hilasterion"

Through faith in Christ's blood.

Blood is a penal sacrifice

Hilasterion is the Old Testament 'mercy seat' in the Septuagint

3. Redemption via Ransom

Mark 10:45 - "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"

The question is, a ransom to whom?
-The Devil? (Christus Victor theory)
-The Law of God?
-The Wages of Sin?
-No one in particular?

The redemption is both present and future

4. Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Restoration of fellowship with God means the death of Christ and subsequent resurrection
Fellowship with God is an objective reality of God
Reconciliation is God's great goal

Why Study Ethics?

(Originally written January 31, 2006)

Book Notes

Moral Choices: Preface Ch. 1

Publishers Preface

Ethics and morality are increasingly difficult to teach in the 21st century.

Chapter 1

Why Study Ethics?

If there were no consequences would a person want to be moral? "Plato concluded that being moral was inherently valuable, apart form any additional benefits it produced or harm that it enabled a person to avoid" (11).

"One of the principal reasons for being moral is that it is central to most concepts of human fulfillment. For the Christian, being moral is critical to a life that seeks to honor God" (11).

Being moral is inherently good because it is part of the foundation of a person's ability to success.

It is unlikely that a civilization could continue without moral values like fairness, justice, truthfulness and compassion.

Ethics are important because they give direction to people and societies.

Today there is a breakdown in morality among young people and students.

Moral questions are at the root of all of life's most important issues.

Morality is concerned with the questions of right and wrong; the ability to discern between them and justify the choice.

Moral choices are faced every day

Ethics provide the basis on which to make moral choices.

"The basis on which you make moral choices is often as important as the choices themselves" (12).

Big topics of debate stem from the fundamental differences opinion on where ultimate moral authority comes from. Some believe it is a man made institution while others hold that moral authority stems from a higher power.

Society has a sense of bewilderment over some moral issues.

Many of these are due to technology's advancement outpacing society's ability to determine the moral parameters of them.

More people are taking an interest in Ethics today than ever for a number of reasons:
1) Technology's creation of issues
2) Declining morals in society
3) The lack of business ethics and scandals
4) The failure of value-neutral education. "Some even suggest that such value neutrality is impossible" (13).

Rae believes that morality comes from the character of God.

God provides these morality laws:
1) In the Bible (special revelation)
2) Out of the Bible (general revelation)

Morality refers to the actual content of right and wrong, whereas ethics is the process of determining what is right and wrong.

4 Categories of ethics:
1) Descriptive ethics - sociological discipline that attempts to describe the morals of society
2) Normative ethics - discipline that attempts to produce moral norms or rules. Basically it prescribes moral behavior
3) Metaethics - discipline that investigates the meaning of moral language. Also considers the justification of ethical theories and judgments
4) Aretaic ethics - category of ethics that focuses on the virtues produced in people, not the morality of specific acts.

Making a moral judgment involves four considerations:
1) The action itself
2) The motive behind the action
3) The consequence of the action
4) The character of who performs the action

Character - the tendency of a person to act in a predictable way over time

Two types of Ethical systems:
1) Action-oriented systems
2) Virtue-based systems

Under these two major divisions there are three subcategories
1) Deontological systems
2) Teleological systems
3) Relativism

Deontological systems - are systems based on principles in which actions, or character, or intentions are inherently right or wrong. Three types:
1) Divine command theory
2) Natural Law
3) Ethical rationalism

Teleological systems (ends justify the means) - are systems based on the end result produced by an action. If the action produces more beneficial consequences than harmful ones then it is moral. If not, then it is immoral. The primary form of teleological ethics is utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism holds that the action that produces the greatest good for the greatest numbers is the moral action.

Ethical egoism - another form of teleological ethics which maintains that the moral act is whatever is in a person's own best interest.

Relativism is an ethical system in which right and wrong are not absolute and unchanging but they are relative to one's culture or one's own personal preferences.

Social and Person Ethics: "The nature of Morality

Definition of ethics:
1) Individual character, including what it means to be a good person
2) The social rules that govern and limit our conduct, especially morality.

Definition of morality: the ultimate rules concerning right and wrong

Morality refers to what is right and wrong, good and bad; ethics is the study and assessment of those standards.

Moral standards are different than other standards because they concern behavior that is of serious consequence to human welfare.

Moral standards take priority over other standards. We take moral standards, judgments as more conclusive when put up against non-moral standards.

Moral standards' soundness depends on the adequacy of the reasons that justify them.

Unlike other standards, moral standards are not decided by an authoritative body.

Etiquette - The norms of correct conduct in polite society.

In etiquette the terms, "good, wrong, right and bad" are judgments, not ethics.

The terms legal and moral are not interchangeable.
1) An action can be illegal, but morally right
2) An action that is legal can be immoral.

Professional codes are ethical codes within a given field or profession.

These codes are not an end all scope of morality and some of the ethics of that code are not moral standards. Some of the ethics of the code are not necessarily morally right.

Our moral principles come from many different sources: upbringing, our surrounding people, behavior, explicit and implicit standards of our culture, our own experiences and our critical reflection on those experiences all shape what we see as moral.

The philosophical goal of finding the origin of morals is to see if a moral standard can stand up to critical tests.

Some say morals are synonymous with religion while others argue for the doctrine of ethical relativism.

All religions provide its believers with certain moral instructions, values and commitments.

Religion involves not only formal systems of worship, but also prescriptions for social relationships.

An example of this is the Golden Rule, which is found in all the great religions of the world:
Hinduism - "Good people proceed while considering that what is best for others is best for themselves" (Hitopadehsa)
Judaism - "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Leviticus)
Christianity - Matthew 7:12, What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others
Confucianism: Analects 15:23
Islam - "No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself" (Traditions)

Although these religious ideals are very inspiring, they are difficult to translate into precise policy instructions.

Religious bodies occasionally articulate positions on more specific political, educational, economic and medical issues. These help mold public opinion on matters as diverse as abortion, euthanasia, nuclear weapons and national defense.

"Morality needn't rest on religion" (8)

Many people believe that morality must be based on religion for two reasons:
1) Without religion people would have no incentive to be moral
2) Only religion can provide moral guidance
3) Morality is based on the commands of God

Often people act morally simply because they are accustomed to acting that way or because it is in their character to act so.

"We are often motivated to do what is morally right out of concern for others or just because it is right" (8) [Untrue, humanity is very selfish by nature]

Other reasons for acting or living morally good lives include:
1) approval of peers
2) the need to appease our conscience
3) drive to avoid punishment

"Atheist generally live lives as moral and upright as those of believers" [Sad but true]

The moral instruction of the world's great religions are general and imprecise.

The divine command theory states that if something is wrong it is only wrong because God commands us not to do it. (Most philosophers and theologians reject this view)

It is impossible to justify a moral principle by only appealing to religion.

Ethical relativism does not hold that religion supplies moral principles. They are supplied by what a particular society believes.

This creates an atmosphere that allows for something to be right in one place and wrong in another.

There is no moral absolute outside of cultural context in ethical relativism.

There is no and can be no non-ethnocentric standard by which to judge actions in ethical relativism.

Ethical relativism undermines any moral criticism of other societies as long as their actions conform to their own standards.

There is no such thing as ethical progress in ethical relativism. Morality changes, but it does not get better or worse.

It is impossible for people to criticize principles or practices accepted in their own society in ethical relativism. All that can happen is people can be criticized for not living up to the moral standards of their society.

Ethical relativism makes reformers of society immoral persons for calling out injustices.

The more ethical relativism is examined, the more obvious it becomes that it is flawed.

Accepting and practicing on a moral principle involves consideration of a desire to follow that principle for its own sake, the likelihood of feeling guilty of not following it, and a tendency to evaluate the conduct of others according to that principle.

It would be difficult to believe that a person held a moral principle if they continue to violate that principle with no ill effects on their conscience.

Conscience is a complex psychological development of people internalizing moral values that were instilled in them as young children.

The problem with conscience is it is not always morally right.

Sometimes doing what is morally right and doing what is in your base interest come into conflict.

"Morality serves to restrain our purely self-interested desires so we can all live together" (12).

Normally following our own moral principles is in our best interest, however if following moral principles is motivated by expecting a payoff is not really moral.

Deciding to follow your self-interest or deciding to follow your moral principles when they come into conflict depend on the strength of those entities.

The paradox of hedonism is that people who always follow their own self-interest principles tend to live less happy and less fulfilling lives.

Book Notes on the Biblical Canon & Interpretation

(Originally written January 5, 2006 in Notebook 20)

Book Notes

The Promise and The Blessing
Michael Harbin

- There are many ways of studying the Bible, this book will approach it from its historical context
- This book will help us to understand the books of the Bible as the original readers would have
- There are two basic approaches to understanding the Bible
1) The Traditional View
2) The Modern View
- The traditional view is a more conservative view and has been the widely accepted view until recent times
- The traditional view accepts the Bible on face-value and believes it to be historically accurate
- The Modern View is a more liberal view of the Bible that assumes it to be mythical until there is corroborating evidence
-The Modern view began to gain ground in the 1800's especially after Julius Wellhaven produced a theory that the Pentateuch was written much later than previously assumed
- Willhausen's theory (The Documentary Hypothesis) argues that God is limited and could not (or at least would not) perform miracles, or interfere with he space-time history
- The Traditional View holds that God will on occasion and has intervened in the time-space history
- Miracles cannot be proved or disproved by scientific research. Science can show us what is normal and by nature miracles are unnatural. This makes them out of the scope of science
- Archaeology constantly shatters the modern view's beliefs and presuppositions
- Archeology does not prove the Bible
- Archeology has limitations and problems
- One problem is that of historical loss. This occurs when items are destroyed either by disaster, humans or time
- Another problem is that of limited excavation. This occurs when archeologists cannot excavate areas because of politics, weather, funding or other restrictions
- Another problem is that of non-written sources. This problem occurs when we find artifacts that aren't written ones, like tools or pottery. These items sometimes cannot be figured out what exactly they were used for and that sometimes we can only deduce small amounts of information from them
- Another problem is that of dating. This is when artifacts are attempted to be dated. There is no exact way of being 100% accurate all of the time
- Another problem is the problem of history. Sometimes people in history were not thought of as important until after the fact.
- History is defined as "the recording of eyewitness accounts in written form"
- History begins with writing, so any culture without writing is prehistoric by nature
- History began no earlier than 3200-3100 B.C. in Sumer at the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers.
- All writing began as pictographs:
Mesopotamia: Cuneiform
Egypt: Hieroglyphics
- All writing began as financial records
- Originally God intended to speak to Israel himself the books of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus but after God spoke the 10 commandments to them they were frightened and asked Moses to tell them what God said
- Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus became the first canon (and probably Job)
- The canon is a group of writings regarded as authentic and used in the Bible
- The canon as we have it today gradually developed
- The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (except for three passages in Aramaic)
- The Old Testament was translated into their everyday languages after the exile to Babylon
- The most important Greek translation is the Septuagint
- The Early New Testament books fell into two basic categories:
1) Eyewitness accounts of the Messiah (the Gospels)
2) Letters from key witnesses to believers (the Epistles)
- Numbers and Deuteronomy were added to the Old Testament Canon 40 years after the original canon
- To be in the canon a book must be inspired by God. It must have two roles of the Holy Spirit:
1) Inspiring the writer
2) Verifying the inspiration to the community
- Christianity began with the assumption that the Jewish canon was authoritative
- The concept of the Messiah comes from the Jewish canon
- The New Testament was primarily written to groups of God's people throughout the Roman Empire

Review Questions

1) The traditional view of how the Bible was written is that it was written as a historically accurate account of events
2) The traditional view accepts the Bible at "face-value" and believes in its miraculous events
2) The Modern view looks at the Bible with skepticism and does not accept it until other evidence is produced to verify it.
3) The canon is the books believed to be inspired and authoritative. It's important because it makes up the Bible
4) The epistles were written before the Gospels because the apostles felt that a written account of Jesus as the Messiah was not needed because Christ's return was just around the corner.
5) It took so long for a New Testament canon to be agreed on because there were so many letters to be found and decided on.
6) The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that it gave use written documentation of the Bible 1,000 years older than our previous oldest copies. With that we could compare the accuracy of the copying process.