). So make sure to change your RSS and email feeds to my new location…or not (if you are done following my blogging adventures and this is your chance for a clean break).So long blogger...its been a fun (?) 7 years with you.
Friday, September 07, 2012
I've Moved
). So make sure to change your RSS and email feeds to my new location…or not (if you are done following my blogging adventures and this is your chance for a clean break).So long blogger...its been a fun (?) 7 years with you.
Leviticus: A Literary Structure
What follows is a brief literary
outline of the Book of Leviticus as I understand it:
A. Sacrifices/Offerings (ch.1-7)
B. Priestly Ordination (ch.8-10)
C. Clean/Unclean in daily life
(ch.11-15)
D. Day of Atonement (ch.16) [1]
C'. Holiness in daily life
(ch.17-20)
B'. Holy Orders (ch.21-22)
A'. Holy Observances (ch.23-25)
Conclusion: Blessings-Curses and
Dedication (ch.26-27) [2]
I think the book offers a chiastic
literary structure that demonstrates a literary unity overall and that places the Day of Atonement at the center.[3]
Many refer to this book as being about “holiness”[4] (which it
is), but holiness toward what end?
Toward the blessing of Yahweh's
presence with His people. As I stated in my earlier post, I believe
that the intimate presence of Yahweh in relationship with His people
is the point of Leviticus. Holiness is the means by which this is
accomplished, but the aim is nearness in relationship. This is
further clarified by the last two chapters which delineate the
associated blessings-curses with faithfulness to Yahweh and the
voluntary dedication of persons and properties to Yahweh.
While all that precedes is commanded of Israel in their relationship
with Yahweh, the final chapter speaks to what is voluntary in that
relationship. The promised blessing in that relations was: “I
will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I
will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.”
(Lev.
26:11-12 NIV)
[1] Leviticus 16 as the literary
“center” of the book is also argued by Joel N. Lohr, “The Book
of Leviticus” in A Theological Introduction to the Pentateuch:
Interpreting the Torah as Christian Scripture (Eds., Richard S.
Briggs and Joel N. Lohr; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 87;
and cited in that volume is the work of Wilfried Warning, Literary
Artistry in Leviticus, Biblical Interpretation Series 35 (Leiden:
Brill, 1999), 178.
[2] Admittedly, many scholars consider
chapter 27 to be a sort of appendix. I have included it as part of
the conclusion because of its voluntary nature for a people who have
already covenanted relationship with their God, Yahweh.
[3] For several alternate and more
complex chiastic proposals that do not describe the whole book, see
Nobuyoshi Kiuchi, “Leviticus, Book of” in Dictionary of the
Old Testament: Pentateuch (Eds., T. Desmond Alexander and David
W. Baker; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 524.
[4] Critical scholars even go so far as
to refer to chapters 17-26 as a so-called “Holiness Code” which
was codified at some other time than the book it has been included in
and only later attached because of the emphasis throughout the whole
work on “holiness." One of the commentaries I am using is notably called "Holiness to the LORD: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus" by Allen P. Ross (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic 2002). It is because "holiness" is considered the watchword of this book of Scripture (which certainly seems pertinent), but I believe my point remains: holiness to what end?
Thursday, September 06, 2012
The Heart of Leviticus
So what is the point? The point can be found in a commonly used term in the sixteenth chapter (Lev.16:7, 16, 17, 20, 23, 33; and many other places elsewhere in the Torah): the tent of meeting (Heb. אֹהֶל מוֹעֵֽד). This "tent of meeting" (or "tabernacle") was intended for one purpose: to be the place where Yahweh, the God of Israel, met with Israel. The presence of Yahweh was always the point. This is emphatically stated in the first verse of chapter sixteen which reads: "The LORD said to Moses: 'Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.'" (NIV) Yahweh made a way for His presence to remain and for the revelation of His presence in the midst of His people (without them simply being destroyed by the need to be "clean" and "holy").
We quickly become lost in the regulations about purity and sacrifices. We tend to think that such matters were primarily (or even only) concerned with sin. Not so. That was not so. The point was presence and relationship. Yahweh longs for relationship and makes a way back for a people of His choosing who will do what is necessary to live in His presence.
This is also the point of the gospel. The point is not about overcoming sins or being forgiven of sins. That is only initiatory to being received into God's presence...to having God with us (e.g., Immanuel) and even in us. God desires a people to Himself (Rev.21:3) and has made the way to have such immediacy even in the face of His absolute otherness.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. (Heb.10:19-23 NET)
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Sacramental Pentecostals?
One of the reasons I bring this all up is because I received an update in my blog feeder that Renovatus (a well-known church in Charlotte, NC) just announced their move to a weekly Lord's Supper as part of their move toward a greater sense of community. Pastor Jonathan Martin had some tremendous thoughts in this regard and in relation specifically to being Pentecostal and sacramental. It marks a turn toward the table as offering "the real presence" (something the Reformer's -- aside from those called "radical reformers"-- held strongly to).
This may seem a strange move for Pentecostals, but in actuality our doctrine and practice of the gifts of the Spirit are themselves offer a sacramental perspective (particularly as we affirm something akin to "the real presence"). I do know of other Pentecostal works (including Assemblies) which share in communion every week as a part of their corporate worship experience. It seems quite fascinating that we act like we MUST sing X number of songs, have announcements, etc. every week, but don't practice the Eucharist that often because we usually say we don't want it to become less meaningful. Is that what we think we've done with our singing? Why don't we sing choruses and hymns just once a month? Or the reading of Scripture? When it is all said and done, this is just the kind of thing that the church needs as a reminder to confession, forgiveness, reconciliation and mission. This is why I regularly equate the Lord's Table with our modernist "altar call". I believe it is the call to the saints to embrace the life of Christ even as we work and live toward His coming again. There is something which our Lord works in our presence as we participate in His life.
What are your thoughts on the sacramental nature of the Lord's Supper?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)