speak...

-
This reading is from Leviticus 21:1-24:23.


Here is the summary:


(Ch.21)

Various regulations for the priests:

Defilement because of a dead family member, or marriages between family members.

Not to participate with harlotry.

No one with a defect is to approach to make an offering.


(Ch.22)

More for the priests:

Rules for eating of the holy gifts.

If a priest becomes unclean, he must wait until sun sets to eat of the holy gifts.

Family members of priests who are able to eat of the holy gifts.


(Ch.23)

The holy convocations:

The sabbath.

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The First Fruits.

The Harvest - Pentecost.

The Trumpets.

The Day of Atonement.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths).


(Ch.24)

The oil and the bread for the tabernacle.

A son of an Israelite woman with an Egyptian father is killed with stones because he curses Yahweh.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.


----- ----- ----- ----- -----

The regulations for the priests start from Chapter 21 to 25, but it is interrupted by an incident of a son of an Israelite woman, who curses Yahweh.

This is precisely the same passage from which the (in)famous quote of "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" originates.


I remember hearing this phrase years ago in Japan when the only religion I knew was Buddhism. At the time it sounded relatively fair and just, although the prospect of losing my own eye or tooth felt a little too severe.

Years later, I read the commentary of Christ regarding this passage in Matthew 5:38, where he teaches to turn the other cheeck and leave the justice to God.

At the head knowledge level, what Christ said sounds really good and true.

However, when it comes time to live out what Christ taught, it becomes unfair and unjust, as we would like to carry out the process of justice.

The difference between knowing what Christ taught as opposed to believing what he taught comes down to doing things our way which is always easy, or living in the way of Christ which is not always easy.


--