interesting stuff from leviticus

For all those bald-headed people out there: you are not unclean...unless, of course, you have an infectious skin disease that is manifesting itself upon your scalp.

"When a man has lost his hair and is bald, he is clean. If he has lost his hair from the front of his scalp and has a bald forehead, he is clean. But if he has a reddish-white sore on his bald head or forehead, it is an infectious disease breaking out on his head or forehead. The priest is to examine him, and if the swollen sore on his head or forehead is reddish-white like an infectious skin disease, the man is diseased and is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean because of the sore on his head." (Leviticus 13:40-44)

I'm not sure what I found that rather hilarious, but I did.

Leviticus is proving to be a much more interesting book than I remembered. I mean, the entirety of the Bible is amazing, but sometimes a person gets a little bogged down in certain areas. That's why repeated Scripture readings are so valuable. Sections that originally felt dry and lifeless suddenly become relevant, interesting, and alive. New meaning swarms the senses, igniting the memory, drawing together pieces of my own life and readings from other books to give the verses more than a simple superficial implication.

All that to say: I found something interesting. Whether this is the meaning I should be taking from these verses or maybe I'm getting it complete wrong--either way, the first bit of Leviticus 17 seemed to reinforce some of the things we've been discussing in our ladies' Bible study.

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: 'This is what the LORD has commanded: Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside of it instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the LORD -- that man shall be considered guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood and must be cut off from his people. This is so the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest, that is, to the LORD, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them as fellowship offerings. The priest is to sprinkle the blood against the altar of the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.' (Leviticus 17:1-7)

Steve Wilkins' book Face to Face is a fascinating read on true Christian friendship and hospitality, and as such, it places great importance on the interaction between believers, particularly on how it relates to our regular Lord's Day worship. We are supposed to gather together, we are supposed to fellowship, we are supposed to worship with one another. But we are not supposed to do these things on our own. And yet so many people seem to think that Christian worship does not require anything more than a "me and my Bible" attitude. And I'm not just thinking of individuals here, those stereotypical solitary people who climb to the top of a mountain in an act of worship, refusing to join a church since all s/he needs is Jesus and no one else. We're thinking of home church situations, those (usually) homeschooling families who have had it up to here with the church and feel that a better job can be done in the living room. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with a home church situation. All the ladies in my Bible study, for example, either had been involved in a home church at one point or knew someone who had. But this should be a last ditch resort. One should never start a home church as an end in itself but rather as the first step to something better--namely, the beginnings of a church. And in a way, I think these verses in Leviticus are saying something similar. The Israelites were sacrificing outside the camp for a long time, in the manner of their pagan neighbors. And while this was initially tolerated, the Lord made it clear that this was not the way it was to be done. Sacrifices (read: worship) needs to take place in the sanctioned place among the chosen people. Out in the wilderness (the symbolic residence of demonic beings), the temptation would be far too great to follow in the footsteps of the pagans, first by following their worship practices (sacrificing in these solitary places) to the ultimate end of worshiping their gods. Within the community of believers, God had provided a measure of safety. And while it was by no means perfect (as we all know from the rest of the Old Testament), it was the way ordained by God. We can't pretend to know better than God by pulling ourselves away from the Christian community at the first sign of error. For even though the wilderness seems safe at first, there are often more dangers that live among the rocks and crags of our chosen centre of worship.

Anyhow, that's my two cents worth of exegesis.