Learning to Love Leviticus
In times of heaviness and sorrow, how can we have hope we truly believe in? By knowing the full story. Let me explain.
(Feel free to press play on this while you read if you’d like background music!)
Maggie finally earned a gold-level membership at her favorite bookstore in London, which meant she could finally rent from the owner’s collection of old classics.
Despite the rain, she eagerly opened the heavy storefront door, and the old bell rang. She folded her umbrella, an entrance that made her feel like she was going back in time.
Mr. Thompson had her copy of Pride and Prejudice from 1895 out on the Victorian-era counter waiting for her, but she could tell the old man wasn’t his cheerful self.
She tentatively approached the counter, “Good morning, Mr. Thompson…”
Before he could answer, a scoff came from behind him. “Is pouring rain a good morning?”
Confused, Maggie peered behind him to see a teenage girl sitting on her chair, eyes glued to her phone.
“My cousin’s granddaughter has to shadow a small business owner for a class and, despite not liking books very much, she bravely chose to push past her biases and shadow a bookstore owner…”
He kept his words calm and kind, but he gave Maggie an exasperated look as he carefully wrapped up the copy.
“You don’t like books?” Maggie asked the girl.
“I can find out any ending in two seconds, so why would I waste my time?” the teen said without looking up.
Maggie didn’t know how to respond to such a strange take on reading. The girl rolled her eyes and decided to prove her point. She said to her phone, “Hey Google, how does Pride and Prejudice end?”
Her phone responded aloud in a robotic tone, “The ending of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a happy one, culminating in the marriages of Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Darcy and Jane Bennet to Mr. Bingley, after both couples overcome societal obstacles and personal misconceptions.” (Side note: that’s the actual AI response from Google.)
“Yes…” Maggie said, still unsure how to approach such an odd take on reading, “but that’s not why we read… just because you know the ending doesn't mean you know the context, the characters, the lessons learned along the way… all of those things make up the wonderful experience of being immersed in a story-“
“Hmmm,” the old man said more to himself as he walked out from behind the counter. “With the rain, I think I’ll need some plastic wrap… pardon me.” As he passed behind Maggie, he whispered, “And good luck…”
The high schooler shrugged as she continued to type on her phone. She said, “If I really wanted to learn more, which I don’t, because that story is like 500 years old-“
“1813 wasn’t that long ago-“
“Then I’d just Google, ‘lessons learned from Pride and Prejudice.’”
Maggie huffed as she studied the young girl who was back to lifelessly scrolling on her phone. But what might’ve started as anger quickly turned to pity as Maggie realized the young girl would never know the lessons, the adventures, the emotions, and the entertainment of a well-written book.
“Sorry for taking so long, but I think it’s all bundled up and ready for your weekend away in Castle Comb,” Mr. Thompson said as he scurried back behind the counter.
As he rang up the rental on the register, he said with a gleam in his eye, “And I heard it’s supposed to rain most of next week…”
Maggie smiled back, “I know, isn’t it wonderful?”
The girl scoffed, “I don’t get you two.”
No, Maggie thought as she pictured being cozied up with her favorite book with a cup of tea, a blanket, and a view from her Airbnb’s window of one of England’s most beautiful and historic cottage towns. You don’t.
————————-l
I don’t know about you, but a reading retreat in Castle Comb with a great book sounds pretty nice right now.
Like many of you reading this, I’ve cried more tears this past month than I have in a long time from both national and personal losses. I darkly joked to myself a few days ago, “How are there still tears left?!”
There’s so much I’d love to write about, to rant about… but truthfully, I think the best thing I can do at this moment is talk about reading.
Huh?
Specifically, reading and truly studying the Bible, about getting back to the basics that build a strong faith foundation in times of shakiness and uncertainty.
Truly knowing who God is when terrible things happen allows for our hope to have deep, confident roots - which, let’s be honest, Satan loves to attack and plant doubts when the World rears its ugly head.
Here’s an example: When I was crying in my car from shock and sadness, without thinking, I just said out loud, “God, please be real!”
That’s an odd thing to say, right? Addressing an entity and then asking them to be real… that’s not very logically consistent, but it’s what came out in between the sobs.
As I reflect back on that car ride, I am not quite sure where that came from because I DO believe God is real. And yet… that’s what came out of the woodwork when I was at a low point.
I suppose it could be the human fear that people, specifically atheists, think I’m stupid for believing in God (a prideful thought, yes… I’m working on it) and I don’t want to be ignorantly believing anything or committing so much time to something not real.
Or perhaps it was the fact that people who believed in God were getting killed, and that utterance I made was me hoping that their stance on their faith wasn’t in vain… But largely, I think the phrase I said was a deep wish that Heaven was really real; that there actually is life after death; that these souls, and all the souls of people I’ve loved who have died, live on.
Thankfully, after a few seconds of reminding myself of the basics (the improbability of this world being so perfectly designed from one cell whose origins still can’t be explained, testimonies of the Holy Spirit still moving today doing miraculous things, the historical accuracy of the Bible, etc.) I was back to normal. But in a sense, I was lucky - not everyone who asks questions like that comes out still believing.
So, how do we strengthen our trust so that in our inner-most being we know God is real, that who He is who He says He is, and that there really is a reason for true hope that things won’t always be this way?
As wonderful as those ‘basics’ I listed above are when it comes to staying grounded, I really think the answer lies mostly in knowing the WHOLE story; by reading (and studying!) the entire Bible.
Unlike the New Agers, who have a vague and ever-changing view of who “the Universe” is based on how they feel that day (which makes it really awkward when another New Ager comes along with a different internal feeling about who God is), we don’t have to guess what our God is like.
In fact, it is very important that we DON’T guess, but instead go directly to the source - the WORD of God. AKA words God spoke about Himself, documentation of what He cares about, His vision, etc., how the world starts and how the world ends... How blessed are we to have access to that?!
I wrote about my own Bible illiteracy in my past blog post (here), and I wanted to share something that I hope encourages you:
Recently, I actually learned a lot from reading the entire book of Leviticus, and, surprisingly, there were parts that I enjoyed reading.
“Leviticus? THIS book?!” you might be thinking as you open up a random page of Leviticus and read, “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it.” (16:15)
Yes, that book - the third book of the Bible that is filled with laws and orders that seem very irrelevant to us who live in a post-resurrection world. And yet… I have learned that there are so many amazing insights in there regarding God’s character, why sacrifices were needed, and much more; insights from a book I, like most Christians, have never read (or at least read in depth) before.
Humbly, I am realizing now how much my pre- “I’m taking Bible literacy seriously” self had in common with the punk teenager from the story above.
I would like to think I had a better disposition about myself… but the thoughts weren’t that different. Perhaps you can relate. “Can’t I just focus on the New Testament and the Psalms? Can’t I just Google the big takeaways in the OT? Can’t I just let my Pastor teach me important context from the OT in sermons as he deems fit? Can’t I watch a YouTube video recapping the history of the Bible?” And the worst part? I really thought I knew enough about the Bible while having that attitude.
It’s subtle, but when we don’t think it’s important to read the whole Bible, it’s really not that different than asking, “Why not just Google the ending of [insert your favorite book/movie]?”
So I decided to put the theory to the test. Thinking about the need for real hope these days, I typed into Google, “How does the Bible say the world will end?”
Here is the official AI response: “The Bible describes the end of the world as a series of events, not a single cause, culminating in the destruction of the current heaven and earth and the creation of a new one. This includes signs such as widespread wars, famines, earthquakes, and religious deception, followed by God's judgments, the return of Jesus Christ to defeat evil, a final judgment for all humanity, and then the establishment of a new, eternal creation where righteousness reigns.”
If one didn’t really care, it’d be easy enough to nod along and go, “Ok,” and move on. But is that going to lead to strong conviction when we are faced with hard times? No.
However, if we look deeper at that AI-generated statement, there are a LOT of things that could / should lead to follow-up questions: “Who is Jesus Christ? Who is God? What is the current Heaven? What is ‘judgement’ exactly, and why is it a part of this conversation? Isn’t judgment bad? When will this ending happen? What is the point of creating a new creation?”
Here’s the amazing news - if we read the whole story (aka - the Bible in its entirety), we would not only know those answers, but we would most likely be so shaped and moved by God’s truth and living word that our lives would be exponentially better because we read it. That’s the power of a good read, huh??
The STORY, the full story, is so important in being able to understand the “more fun” parts of the Bible better, which tend to be the focus of sermons and devotionals.
Without the full story, we are either reading the New Testament “hits” with the wrong background or no background at all, leaving each individual to interpret a passage through their own preferences and ideas.
As a gentle reminder, as someone who is just starting to correct my own Biblical illiteracy, having no (or the wrong) context is a really bad thing.
It’d be like someone asking Maggie, “When and where does Pride and Prejudice take place?” but instead of listening for a response, they say, “To me, personally, I envision it happening in 1970s China, in the midst of the Mao Revolution…”
“Um…” Maggie might respond, “But that’s not when it happened-“
“Does it really matter?”
“YES!” Maggie might say as she thinks about the carriages, outfits, and landscapes; the societal rankings and expectations; the technology they didn’t have access to then; the world and culture that shaped the characters… “The setting is a pretty relevant part of Jane Austen’s story-”
“Well, maybe I will get around to learning the context later.” (Spoiler alert: they never do).
Could you imagine your favorite, most impactful book you’ve ever read being placed in a completely different setting with characters who maybe say the same words, but have a different cultural lens to run it through? It would ruin the story because it wouldn’t be the same story.
Yet when we don’t truly know the time, place, and culture that the New Testament was written in, we ARE going to imagine some other situation that will lead us to wrong conclusions. Some of those wrong conclusions will be about the character of Jesus - and, again, that is not something we should be, or need to be, guessing on!
That’s where the Old Testament comes into play - it is canon (part of the Bible) for a reason! We don’t have to guess what foundation Jesus and the New Testament writers had - we know!
They knew the OT “story” and - praise God for their good Jewish upbringing - because they knew it very well. Paul was a high-ranking religious leader after all!
We know they knew it well because Jesus and the New Testament writers referenced and pointed to the OT all the time. This is something I personally didn’t really understand the scope of because when a reference to the Old Testament came up, I didn’t even realize it was a reference.
In case you were wondering, according to Google’s AI, a conservative estimate is that the Old Testament is referenced at least 280 times.
In other words, the speakers and writers were assuming their audience knew the context of what they were talking about or else they’d be horrible at getting their points across… but do we, the current readers, know the context? Do we really know the full story?
This coming together of the OT and NT, this full picture, allows us to be rooted in the truth that produces REAL hope. Real context leads to real knowledge, which leads to real roots rooted in the real truth. Is that not what brings comfort in shaky times?
We don’t have to wonder why there’s evil in the world or have a “fingers crossed” mentality about Heaven. The truth allows us to not grieve like the world grieves because we have hope, but that is only helpful if it’s real hope.
However… Let's not live in a fantasy book (haha), there is a reason why a lot of the Old Testament is often kicked to the curb… I’m talking about the fact that it can be really boring, gory, repetitive, and confusing.
And thaaaaat brings us back to Leviticus: the place where many “I’m going to read the Bible in a year! journeys” come to die.
I will be honest - it is not as “fun” as, well, pretty much any other book of the Bible I have read in its entirety (and yes, I am aware I have a looonng way to go). And yet, through the help of my 4 trusty sidekicks that I’m going to share with you below, I not only made it through Leviticus but I came away thoroughly appreciating it. (I promise I’ll get to “…how?!?” in a second).
I learned so much about God’s heart for dwelling among us, His holiness, our call to holiness through His help, the importance of rest and how it relates to trusting in God, pagan culture and the need to be set apart from it so that they also come to God, the importance of atonement, how we are commanded to celebrate (yes, to have a party!) with the theme being “God’s amazing provision,” where the term ‘scapegoat’ comes from, how much God loves the poor, how much He hates disloyalty, the difference between being unclean vs. being sinful, the role of priests, how much God values honesty and keeping promises, and how He ALWAYS, always, always has a way for people to turn back around (and repent!) so they can be welcomed back into His presence.
That’s some pretty important context of the story! And the crazy thing is there’s so much more baked into Leviticus that I simply don’t have time to get into today.
However, here’s the key takeaway: if I were just reading it on my own, I wouldn’t have learned any of that.
Why? Because at a surface level, Leviticus is a TOUGH read. It’s repetitive, it’s bloody, and it seems irrelevant. It’s not, of course, but if I was just trying to check a box so I could move on to the rest of the book, I would’ve “read” through it so fast there’s no way I would have learned anything - like the college kid who pays just enough attention to pass the test so they can graduate instead of trying to really learn.
So… don’t do that.
Don’t do that with Leviticus or any other book of the Bible. If you’re going to spend your precious time reading it, why not let yourself be a student of some great teachers whom God has blessed with the gift of teaching specifically so they could help us!?
Back to the book at hand… Instead of reading Leviticus on your own, keep these three things in mind:
Start with Genesis, then read Exodus, then tackle Leviticus. They build on each other.
Ask yourself, “Why is this section on (sacrifices, skin boils, priestly garb, sabbaths, celebrations, etc.) in here? While we might not get an answer for everything (and God does have the right to put something arbitrary in there if He wants to because He’s God and can do whatever He wants), there usually is an explanation for the law. These explanations are the roots that often give us insight into what is still sinful today.
Most importantly: Please, for all that is holy, do not read it without good teachers. Here are the four, yes, FOUR, who helped me learn, stick with it, and actually enjoy this book:
My Resources (feel free to open on your cell phone so you can download/access some of the apps linked):
The BEMA podcast (which functions more like an audiobook, so start at the beginning) covers chunks of the Bible at a time and gives amazing context and perspective that has made me see the Bible in a new light. But as we get more detailed…
The Bible Project has great videos that give an overview of a chapter. But don’t stop there!
The Bible Recap can be digested in video or book format, that gives background for a few chapters at a time. And…
Through the Word is an app that gives commentary on every single Bible chapter.
Like a funnel, the ones at the top of the list were leaned on a few times, while the ones at the bottom of the list were chapter by chapter assistance. And I needed it!
Please use these resources or another trusted source as you go through. Context is so critical for Leviticus (and let’s be real, all books), but in this case, it’s something you can’t really gather from the text alone.
I now know I would be missing out on a key part of the full story if I skipped Leviticus. I’m starting to learn that all of the Bible really is in there for a reason. Let’s think back to Pride and Prejudice - we can’t just not read chapters 3, 16, 28, 40, and 53 from the 61 chapters and expect to know just as much as someone who did read those chapters. So let’s not skip any chapters (or in the Bible’s case, books) so we can be true fans.
So let’s get out of the scrolling and comments on social media that lead to anger and depression. Instead, let’s fix our eyes on what is life-giving by continuing to worship (my blog on that here), continuing to pray big prayers (my blog on that here), and continuing to cozy up with a really important, life-shaping book: The Bible.
Song “Take you at your Word”:
Sermon:
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