Thursday, February 27: Leviticus 21-23; Hebrews 8

Leviticus 21 & 22: What were priests to do to ensure that they remained holy?

Leviticus 23: What were the seven festivals which the Israelites were to observe?

Hebrews 8: What Old Testament verse does the author of Hebrews quote and why?

Journal Prompt: Consider our church ‘festivals’ compared to those of the Old Testament. What similarities do you see in them?

Leviticus 21 & 22: Priests were required to remain holy – they were not to touch any dead bodies unless it was an immediate family member.  They were not to shave their heads or the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. They could not marry prostitutes or divorced women. The high priest wasn’t able to even be in a room with a dead body – not even his mother or father.  He was commanded to keep his hair neat and his clothes untorn and he was to marry only a virgin.  No descendants of Aaron who were deformed in any way (blind, lame, deaf, crippled, hunchback, a leg to long, etc.) or had any disease (leprosy) or blemish were permitted to offer food to be sacrificed to the Lord; though they were able to eat the holy food.  This seems very harsh.  We see such a contrast with Jesus where he reached out and touched these very people who were previously deemed unholy and would have been marginalized.

Leviticus 23:  The seven feasts were: Sabbath, Passover, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Davy of Atonement, Feast of the Booths (Tabernacles).

Hebrews 8: The author quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34.  It shows the need for a new covenant with the people as they were unable to be faithful under the old covenant.