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Leviticus 21-22: A Different Standard For Priests

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Why were priests held to a higher standard than the rest of Israel? Why couldn't disabled people work as priests? What is the significance of the spotless sacrifices?

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Why Priests Were Held to a Higher Standard — and What That Means for Us

Show Notes

David Bowden and Seth Stewart welcome listeners to the Spoken Gospel podcast, where they continue their journey through Leviticus by turning to chapters 21 and 22. These chapters mark a shift in audience — God is no longer speaking to all of Israel but specifically to the priests, the sons of Aaron. What follows is a fascinating exploration of why those who worked closest to God's presence were held to a stricter code, what that code looked like, and how Jesus fulfills and transforms every part of it.

Approaching the One Who Holds You Accountable

Up to this point in Leviticus, the laws have been directed at all the people of Israel — moral laws, interpersonal laws, laws about the home. But in Leviticus 21:1, the audience changes. God tells Moses to speak directly to the priests. The laws that follow are not brand new in substance — many are similar to what has already been given — but they are elevated in their demands. The reason has everything to do with proximity to God's presence.

Inside the Holy of Holies sat the Ark of the Covenant, and inside the Ark were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments — the very law that God himself wrote. A priest walking toward that space was walking toward both the standard he was supposed to live up to and the One who would hold him accountable for failing it. It is the same instinct a person feels when they see a police officer on the highway — even if the cruise control is set at the speed limit, they still check. Or it is like being called into the principal's office. Even if nothing is wrong, there is an automatic sense of trepidation. But when the priest entered God's presence, this was not a vague anxiety. It was the recognition that Sin and Death were serious realities, and the one approaching God's concentrated holiness needed to be doubly sure nothing was amiss.

There is also the matter of representation. The priests were not just workers in the tabernacle. They were moral exemplars for the people. All of Israel was told, "Be holy as I am holy." The priests, then, were like billboards of that holiness. The people's hope was to one day dwell in God's presence, and the priests — who actually did dwell near that presence — were living pictures of what that kind of life looked like. The repeated refrain in these chapters is not "Be holy as I am holy" but "I am the Lord your God," a declaration that grounds all of these demands in who God is. The closer you get to God, the more his character shapes the expectations placed on you.

Allegiance to God Above Family Ties

One of the most striking commands in this section involves contact with the dead. Priests were forbidden from making themselves ritually unclean by going near dead bodies, except for their closest blood relatives. The high priest could not defile himself even for his own father or mother. This sounds severe, even heartless. But what it communicates is a priority of allegiance — the priest's devotion to God and his duties in the tabernacle must come before even the deepest family bonds.

In the ancient world, family was not just important — it was identity. Your family name, your father's trade, your social standing, all of it was woven into who you were. To not attend a parent's burial rites would have been seen as an act of hatred or abandonment. And yet God demanded this of his high priest. The only way this makes sense — the only way it is not cruel — is if God is offering something better. If being devoted to him is actually more valuable, more life-giving, and more eternally significant than even the most sacred human relationships.

Jesus picks up this exact thread in the New Testament. In Matthew 12, he redefines family by saying that his true mother and brothers are those who do the will of his Father. When a would-be disciple asked to go bury his father first, Jesus replied, "Let the dead bury the dead" (Luke 9:60). And in Luke 14:26, he said that anyone who does not "hate" father, mother, brother, and sister is not worthy of the Kingdom. This is not a call to literal hatred — we are told to love even our enemies — but a statement of comparison. Your love for Jesus must be so consuming that every other affection looks pale by comparison. What gives God the right to demand this? "I am the Lord your God." He is worthy of it. He is better than what we think will satisfy us, better than what we think defines us. And he proved it by dealing not just with physical death, which happens every day, but with eternal Death — the separation from God that only his sacrifice could overcome.

Marriage Laws and the Bride Jesus Chose

The priests also faced stricter standards for marriage. A priest could not marry a prostitute or a divorced woman. The high priest could only marry a virgin from his own clan, in part to ensure the purity of the priestly line and the legitimacy of his firstborn heir who would succeed him. These restrictions were about maintaining the symbolic wholeness and purity that God wanted on display in his representatives.

But what makes these laws truly remarkable is how Jesus, our great High Priest, breaks every one of them — and yet remains perfectly righteous in doing so. Throughout the prophets, Israel is described as a divorced wife (Jeremiah 3:8), a prostitute who whored after other gods (Hosea), and a people defiled by rebellion and idolatry. By every measure in Leviticus 21, Israel — and by extension, all of humanity — would be disqualified as a bride for the high priest. And yet Jesus marries us.

The only way this works is if what Jesus accomplished on the cross actually changes us. He does not merely overlook our past. He purifies us. He removes the guilt of our prostitution and makes us as if we were virgins. He imputes his own righteousness to us so that we stand before him spotless, blameless, and clean. This is what Paul describes in Ephesians 5 when he speaks of the church as a bride "without spot or wrinkle." It is what Revelation 19 and 21 celebrate — the wedding feast of the Lamb with his perfected people. The high priest of Leviticus could never have married any of us. But Jesus can, because he makes us new.

Physical Wholeness and the People Jesus Healed

Perhaps the most uncomfortable set of laws in these chapters involves the requirement that priests who served at the altar be physically whole. No one who was blind, lame, had a mutilated face, a limb too long, an injured foot or hand, a hunchback, or any number of other conditions could administer the sacrifices. This immediately raises the question: What does this say about God's heart toward the disabled?

The answer, embedded in the text itself, is more gracious than it first appears. These priests with physical impairments were not cast out. They retained their status as members of the priestly order. They lived where priests lived, were called what priests were called, and — crucially — they ate the priestly food. They received all the benefits and bore none of the laborious, bloody work at the altar. They got all the grace and did none of the work. The restriction was not about their value before God. It was about what God wanted symbolized at the altar. The priest administering the sacrifice was God's visible representative, and God wanted that representative to reflect his own wholeness, completeness, and perfection. It was an extension of the command, "Be holy as I am holy." Since God is whole, his representative at the altar needed to visually embody that wholeness.

Jesus transforms this picture entirely. He is the truly whole, truly perfect representative of God — not merely symbolically, but actually. And when this perfect, incarnate Holy of Holies walked through Israel, he sought out nearly every category of person listed in Leviticus 21. He healed the blind, made the lame walk, touched lepers, and restored withered hands. Zacchaeus, described as very short, encountered Jesus personally. And in Acts 8, one of the first recorded conversions is the Ethiopian eunuch — a man who, under Levitical law, would have been excluded from the assembly. Jesus then tells a parable in Luke 14 about a great banquet where the originally invited guests make excuses, and so the host sends servants to bring in the poor, the blind, the lame, and the deformed. That is the Gospel: Jesus does all the work at the altar — he is both the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice — and then invites those who could never have qualified to sit at the table and feast.

The Cost of a Perfect Offering

Leviticus 22 mirrors the standards for priests by applying similar standards to the sacrificial animals. The offerings had to be without defect — no blindness, no crushed limbs, no oozing sores, no deformity. The parallel is intentional. Just as clean animals in Leviticus represented Israel within the animal kingdom, the sacrificial animals functioned as the "priests" of the animal kingdom. They had to meet the same standard of wholeness and perfection because they represented the same God.

This was enormously costly. Israel's economy was agrarian and subsistence-level. Animals were not just livestock — they were wealth, security, and future livelihood. Breeding the best animals with the best animals was how a family secured its line. To sacrifice the finest, most unblemished animal was to sacrifice your present provision and your future prosperity. God designed this cost intentionally. It was meant to teach Israel something about how he views Sin and rebellion. If a worshiper was tempted to think their disobedience was not that serious, the sight of their prized, perfect lamb on the altar said otherwise. The cost of the sacrifice reflected the weight of what it was covering.

This logic reaches its ultimate conclusion in Jesus. God did not send an angel or an archangel. He gave the best of heaven's flock — himself. If God was willing to sacrifice his own Son, then our rebellion must be far more costly than we imagine. As the author of Hebrews argues, the blood of bulls and goats could never truly take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). The entire Levitical system was designed to be insufficient — not as a cruel trick, but as a signpost. Faithful Israelites, like the prophets who cried out that God despised empty sacrifices (Isaiah 1:11–14), recognized that the system pointed beyond itself to something — someone — who would actually finish the job.

The Perfect Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice

Everything in Leviticus 21 and 22 converges on one reality: we need perfection that we do not have. The offering had to be spotless because the worshiper was not. The priest had to be whole because the people he represented were broken. The sacrifice's perfection was transferred to the one who brought it — that is what Leviticus calls purification. But an imperfect sacrifice could only offer imperfect purification.

Jesus is both the perfect Priest and the perfect Sacrifice. He is the unblemished High Priest who can approach the altar — now the cross — because he is without Sin. And he is the spotless Lamb of God whose blood does not merely symbolize cleansing but actually accomplishes it. He removes guilt, purifies conscience, and imputes his own righteousness to those who trust him. Before Jesus, the worshiper came to God through a system where God made all the demands: do this, bring that, stay clean, be perfect. But now, because the final sacrifice has been offered once for all, we go boldly before the throne of grace. The dynamic has reversed — we are no longer the ones scrambling to meet requirements. We are the bride of the High Priest, one with him, and we make our requests directly. "Provide my daily bread. Forgive my rebellion. Protect me from the evil one." No further sacrifice is needed, because the one who offered himself was truly God, and what he gave us was truly God's own righteousness. That is why we can stand in the Holy of Holies without fear — not because we earned the right, but because his perfection has become ours.

Transcript

Intro: [instrumental music plays] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. This is our attempt to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. We believe every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Let's jump in. [upbeat instrumental music]

David: All right, everyone, welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. We're glad you're joining us.

Seth: Yes.

David: Seth, how are you today, man?

Seth: I'm just fine.

David: Yeah?

Seth: I'm just great.

David: You're just great? Your week's kinda shot 'cause your flight got delayed-

Seth: I did

David: ... and you were coming-

Seth: Tornadoes in St. Louis, and-

David: Oh, that's no fun

Seth: ... but I, it was great because I was, the reason why I took that flight was to get to my daughter's first, like, award ceremony-

David: Oh, yeah?

Seth: ... where she won these awards.

David: For, for, like, karate?

Seth: For, um, catechesis and memorization.

David: [laughs] What?

Seth: So she memorized 26 Bible verses and 50-

David: Oh

Seth: ... catechism questions.

David: That's amazing.

Seth: I know, in kindergarten. I was very proud of her.

David: You should be.

Seth: Anyway, I was just like, "I c- I need to be there for my daughter's thing." So I'm, like, explaining this to the person-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... at the airline counter, and she's like, "I can't get you there tonight." So I was like, "Okay, what about tomorrow morning?" She's like, "Nothing gets you there before 10:30," which is when it started.

David: That's when it was.

Seth: And so I was like, "Okay, is there anything that gets me there before that?" She's like, "Well, there's one flight at 5:30 in the morning."

David: Ugh.

Seth: "You fly to Houston, and then you-

David: Oh

Seth: ... fly to Oklahoma City." I was like, "That's the same distance. Like, from here to, Oklahoma City's the same distance from here to Houston." Anyway, it was a whole thing.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Uh, the flight was delayed again.

David: In the morning?

Seth: Like, in the morning. [laughs]

David: Oh.

Seth: I get on the flight, I drive as fast as I can to the school. I run into the school just in time for her to receive her last reward.

David: You made it.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs] It was great.

David: Oh, that's intense.

Seth: It was great.

David: Well, we're glad you're here.

Seth: I'm, I'm here-

David: Man

Seth: ... to talk about the higher standard of holiness required of priests-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and others.

David: So wh- what, what, what's got us up to this point, we've, we've, so far we've had the table of contents at the very beginning of Leviticus, which outlined all the different types of sacrifices.

Seth: Right.

David: And then we had rules for the priests, which were like the footnotes, uh, for the sacrifices, saying how to administer them. Uh, and then after that-

Seth: I like how you say the footnotes.

David: It's like-

Seth: It's like what nobody really wants to read. [laughs]

David: I know. Well, I think it's funny that I'm saying footnotes 'cause it's like, wait, there's no footnotes in the table of contents. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] I didn't even think about that.

David: But anyway, my metaphor breaks down pretty quickly. Uh, and then what came after that is, uh, what was it? The, oh, clean and unclean stuff, right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's right.

David: Clean/unclean, purification, leprosy, and then we had Day of Atonement. Uh, and then after that, now we've been in this law section for a while.

Seth: That's right.

David: And we first had, uh, mainly private laws that were about morality, about interpersonal relationships, about the home life, uh, and it was for everyone in Israel to follow. And now there's a shift. So in chapter 21, the first verse, "The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the priests.'"

Seth: The sons of Aaron.

David: Right, and up to this point, he's been saying, "Say to the people."

Seth: Yeah.

David: And now he's saying say, say to the priests, and so y- y- your, your audience is different now.

Seth: Yeah, so this is talking essentially about a higher standard of behavior and expectations for, uh, the people working in God's presence than God has for the rest of the people. So a lot of these laws are similar to laws we've already read about-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... what you should be doing and shouldn't be doing, but the, it's just at a higher level.

David: Right. And, and so we should probably ask why.

Seth: I was-

David: Why is, why is that?

Seth: I was thinking about this because think about it. I haven't, I keep forgetting that in the Holy of Holies, in the, the, the, the, the presence of God-

David: Right, the-

Seth: ... is the Ark of the Cove-

David: ... Ark of the Covenant, yeah

Seth: ... and inside the Ark of the Covenant is the law.

David: The, oh, the t-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the two, the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

Seth: The two tablets of the Ten Commandments that God actually wrote.

David: Right.

Seth: We're actually told God wrote it-

David: With his finger

Seth: ... with his finger or something or-

David: Or something, yeah

Seth: ... his mind swords. [laughs]

David: His mind swords. [laughs]

Seth: It's, you know, it's like, you know, I don't know. I don't know what...

David: My chisels. I was like, "Chisels."

Seth: My chisels. [laughs]

David: That's what I was going for.

Seth: I like mind swords.

David: Mind swords. [laughs]

Seth: It sounds like a really bad metal album.

David: [laughs] Mind swords.

Seth: Mind swords, or like a bad video game. I don't even know. Yeah.

David: Either one. Anyway, it was an anthropomorphic way of talking about God writing.

Seth: Right.

David: Yes.

Seth: Yes. And so I thought about that, and it's like you are walking towards the thing that you don't live up to.

David: Mm, right.

Seth: I was like, and then, but, like, you're also invited into it. So I kept thinking about, like, whenever you see, like, a police officer on the side of the road-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... you automatically check your speed. Even if you're cruise controlled at the right speed-

David: [laughs] That's so true

Seth: ... like, I'm still checking.

David: I still, like, hit cancel, and, like, my brakes go on automatically.

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: I know, it's like I wanna make sure that as I approach the authority-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that I don't, like, I'm not messing up.

David: Right.

Seth: Or, like, if you're ever invited into the principal's office. Like, I walk, you, in school you would walk by the principal's office all the time.

David: Yeah, and you wouldn't even think about it.

Seth: It wouldn't matter until you're invited into it, [laughs] especially if you walk inside of it.

David: To receive a- an award?

Seth: To, well, uh-

David: That's the only reason I ever went to the pri- I'm just kidding.

Seth: I-

David: Yeah, no, I totally-

Seth: Did I tell you about the one time-

David: You know when you've done something wrong.

Seth: Right.

David: And then you're invited in, and you're like, "Did she, did she find out?"

Seth: Did she find out?

David: She totally, she totally found out.

Seth: She totally found out. I was invited to the principal's office just one time.

David: Just one time?

Seth: Just one time.

David: I didn't even know they had principals in Scotland.

Seth: Well, he was actually called the rector.

David: Uh-huh, there we go.

Seth: Uh. [laughs]

David: I knew there was some weird Scottish thing.

Seth: But he, I was reading scripture at our assembly because it was, like, a traditionally Christian school, although-

David: Okay

Seth: ... I wasn't really Christian, but I was reading scripture, and I just wanted to put some, like-

David: Oomph

Seth: ... funk-

David: Some funk. [laughs]

Seth: ... to-

David: Some funk

Seth: ... to actually, like, read scripture, like, with some life in it.

David: Okay.

Seth: You know, like, as if it's a dialogue or anything.

David: And so what did you do?

Seth: And so I just did that.

David: What? No, no, no, no, no, no. What?

Seth: No, no, no. The, the, the-

David: [laughs]

Seth: So the, the, the, uh, deputy rector calls me-

David: What are these names? [laughs]

Seth: He calls me in. [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: Okay. We were playing cricket on the field-

David: Oh, of course. Yes

Seth: ... and the deputy rector called me in-

David: Yes

Seth: ... uh, to accost me

David: You walked, you walked past the q- the Quidditch room.

Seth: Yes.

David: [laughs]

Seth: And so I was, I was in obviously, I think Ravenclaw.

David: Oh, right, yeah.

Seth: So I was coming in, and he, um, said to me I was disrespecting the word of God by the way that I enlivened the text by, like, giving emphasis to different words, and so I was trying to do this.

David: Right.

Seth: And he came from this really traditional background, so I was like, "Oh, uh, I don't think I was doing that." And anyway, word got round to the rector.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So the rector called me to his office, and he just kinda patted me on the head. He's like, "I thought what you did was great."

David: Oh.

Seth: "He's a little traditional."

David: Oh.

Seth: "Don't worry about it." [laughs]

David: That's hilarious. So, so the only time... So you, you... But when you approached the, the, the principal's office, did you have trepidation?

Seth: I did.

David: Yes.

Seth: I was like, "Oh, my gosh."

David: Right.

Seth: "I can't... What did I do wrong?" Even, like, though I didn't do anything wrong.

David: Right.

Seth: I was like, [panting]

David: Yeah. Right. But then when you got there, you were absolved.

Seth: I was absolved.

David: There was atonement.

Seth: There was. [laughs]

David: That's what... So yeah.

Seth: So anyway, like, that's what I, I forget, like, you're approaching the standard that calls-

David: Right

Seth: ... that's going to condemn you-

David: Right

Seth: ... if you do it wrong.

David: Both the standard that y- to which you're supposed to live up and the one who holds you accountable.

Seth: Right.

David: God and His law-

Seth: Right

David: ... are in this place that you're approaching.

Seth: So it makes sense-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that when you go into the Holy of Holies, you want to be at a higher s- [laughs]

David: Right.

Seth: You want to make doubly sure-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... you've done nothing wrong.

David: Yeah, and that, and, and it kinda fits too with, we've talked about, I think before, these, like, circles of holiness.

Seth: Right.

David: And so in the very center of the tabernacle, you have the Holy of Holies, which is where all these things are, the Ark of the Covenant, Ten Commandments, God's presence. And then outside of it, you have the inner parts, which has, like, the showbread and the incense and, and, and, uh, the, the lampstand. And then outside of that is the outer court, and you've, that's where the altar is, you know, of burnt offering, where normal people could come and offer their sacrifice. But the closer-

Seth: Right

David: ... you get to the Holy of Holies, there's these concentric circles of holiness, and just as the sacrifices, um, get more exclusive, and just as the people who can administer, administer them gets more exclusive, so, like, outer court, anybody, right?

Seth: Right.

David: Inner court, priests. Holy of Holies, high priest.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's like the moral, like the moral code and the standard of living, uh, standard of living-

Seth: Standard of living [laughs]

David: ... that's the w- wrong word. Also-

Seth: My brain's always very comfortable. [laughs]

David: Yeah. The standard of living in the Holy of Holies is just expensive.

Seth: [laughs]

David: It's through the roof. Real estate there, there's only, there's been one tenant the whole time. [laughs]

Seth: He never wants to sell.

David: Rent control. No. Okay, anyway. So yeah, I, I think we should get that picture. Okay, that's cool. So is that the only, is that the only reason? I'm not, right, trying to set up a rhetorical question here.

Seth: I think that's the, the main reason.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, you're entering into the most concentrated place of the presence of God.

David: Right.

Seth: Um, and besides that, I think the other pr- part of it too is, like, the priests are representatives for the people.

David: Yep.

Seth: And they're also the moral exemplars for the people.

David: That's right.

Seth: People should be able to look to the priests and say, "These are the types of people we aspire to be like," because the hope of all people is to be in the presence of God one day.

David: That's right. Yep.

Seth: And so the people who are actually in the presence of God, it is not a wrong thing to say, "We should be like them-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in the hopes that we will one day be in God's presence," kind of thing.

David: Yeah, I'm just thinking of the constant drumbeat of the last three chapters we've read, has been, "Be holy as I am holy," right? Like, "Be holy as I am holy."

Seth: Right.

David: And then when we get to the priests, we don't really have that command anymore. Instead, we get repeated here, uh, more than anywhere else in Leviticus, that, "I am the Lord your God." And-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and, and, and so you, you kinda have this picture of, like, the priests are to be these holy, like, billboards. And it's like-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... like, "Be holy as I am holy. Look at the priests. They're super holy." And that's because they are this, like, go-between, you know, between-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... God and people. Yeah.

Seth: I don't know if I would draw those categories super distinctly.

David: Mm.

Seth: Like, "Be holy for I am holy," and, "I am the Lord your God," I think they're in the same universe of like-

David: Definitely. Yeah

Seth: ... it's like, "I am the Lord your God. Be like me." [laughs]

David: Right.

Seth: Like, don't, don't be different-

David: Right

Seth: ... than the thing that you're coming to be one with-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in the, in the temple.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So anyway.

David: No, I think that's good. Yep. Okay, so now, so what are, what are these higher standards of holiness, right? We've talked about that they exist, but what are they? So I guess first, what's the very first one, is, is about who they can go visit when they die?

Seth: Yeah, so making yourselves clean or unclean, um, based on the relationship that you had to that person. So if somebody dies and you touch them, you are ritually unclean-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... for a period of time. And so the priests were not to allow themselves to be un- made unclean by anybody except immediate family. And the high priest wasn't even allowed to defile himself with his imme- immediate family. That's an interesting case study right there alone, based on, like, why would the pe- all the people of God aspire to... Like, if these people are moral exemplars-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... why would they aspire to that moment? You know, like, if your mother dies or your father dies-

David: Right

Seth: ... or your child dies, like, it's natural for you to want to hold them-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... and to touch them and to carry them. You know, like-

David: Right

Seth: ... so, like, maybe, maybe I'm blurring categories too much, but, like, why is that something that would actually be, ever be demanded? And why would the people wanna look up to that as something that that's a good thing that he's doing right there?

David: Mm. I don't know if that's the right way to frame the question, like, that the people would look to it and be like, "Oh, they're doing a good thing."

Seth: Right.

David: I think it might be that they're doing a pious thing, or, like, that they're doing-

Seth: Pious meaning, like?

David: ... a whole, like a, like a devout thing. Like, these are devoted people.

Seth: They're proving something by their actions.

David: Right.

Seth: They're, they're sacrificing what is natural-

David: Yes

Seth: ... to go and hug your mother as she's passing away.

David: Yes. And I think it's because they're... I think what, what we should see here, in the fact that if you're a priest, you, you should not go to anyone's funeral, even if they're a close friend, unless they are a blood relative. And then here it says-

Seth: Well, it doesn't say don't go to the funeral. It just says don't touch them.

David: I think it means don't go to the funeral.

Seth: Oh, really?

David: In, in some of the literature I read, it was like, you, you don't go to these, these places. Like, you don't, you don't help with the, the preparations for burial. You don't go near these dead bodies.

Seth: Uh, the only reason why I would say it's like it demands touching is because that's what the other parts of the law said, like, you, when you touch them-

David: Right

Seth: ... that's when you become unclean.

David: I, I think another... And then f- when it talks about the high priest, it, it talks about how, like, not even your father or your mother-

Seth: Right

David: ... you know. Uh, and, and I think the dichotomy it, it builds is because they have duties in the tabernacle. And so it's like-Is that saying-

Seth: Right

David: ... just because, like, they need to stay clean, or is that also saying because there's other things to do, so don't-

Seth: Right

David: ... like, I think maybe even there's this, like, they wouldn't even go, a- and because, like, they're not even supposed to mourn. They're not supposed to tear their clothes. They're not supposed to cut their hair. They're not supposed to-

Seth: Which is why, too, Aaron didn't offer the sacrifices-

David: Exactly

Seth: ... this morning for his so- their sons.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So then why do that? Why are you not allowed-

David: Right

Seth: ... to engage-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... in the grieving process-

David: Yes

Seth: ... the same way that the rest of the people are?

David: Right. I think, well, one thing, and I think it's the main thing, is that they are supposed to put official duties before family duties. That-

Seth: Official sounds a little stale.

David: Yeah, okay.

Seth: But what you're saying, like-

David: There's supposed to, like, God, there's supposed to be God before family.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. They're supposed to put their allegiance to God before their allegiance to their family ties. Um, and I think that sounds like, kinda like what you said, like, well, when a, when a close personal friend or a family member or, or a father or a mother dies, it's natural to want to be there with them and to, like, grieve and-

Seth: Right

David: ... you know, bid them farewell and have-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that moment of cathartic release.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And here, uh, God is forbidding that, and I think that, um, doesn't sound fair or even right unless God is offering something better.

Seth: Right. Right, right, right.

David: That, that somehow being with him, being devoted to him solely, is better than the normal family ties that we have, that being tied to God is better than being tied to family. And-

Seth: Jesus says that

David: ... Jesus says this.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And, and so I thought, I, I thought of three. Maybe there's more.

Seth: Okay.

David: But, uh, okay, so there's, who are... I think it's in Matthew, I think, 12, that he says, like, "Who are my father and my mother?" Or, or-

Seth: Right. Who, who aren't these

David: ... yeah, aren't these. Any, who, who, who's my mother and who are my, my brothers and sisters? It's those who do the will of my father. He's putting allegiance to God, those who give allegiance to God alone, above the normal family ties of who physically gave him birth-

Seth: Right

David: ... or who, or his physical relatives.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, and then you think of the, the man who came and, and said, uh, you know, "Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go," and he's like, "Foxes have holes and the birds have a nest, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Uh, come follow me." He's like, "Well, let me go bury my dad first."

Seth: Right. Because that's, like, the-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... very close parallel to what's happening right here.

David: Uh-huh. And, and he's like, "Leave the dead to bury, bury the dead." And he's like, "Devotion to family or devotion to God?" Right?

Seth: Right.

David: Um, and, uh, and then, oh, I had one more.

Seth: And I think there, that's interesting 'cause I've always heard that one, and it's not so much like you must choose.

David: Mm.

Seth: It's like there needs to be a disposition of your heart that says, "If a choice comes between-

David: Right

Seth: ... my fa- your family and God-

David: Right

Seth: ... you choose the Lord."

David: Yes, and I think that's, that's the, that's the third one that I've, it is in Luke. Uh, yeah, I think it's talking about that disposition of the heart, is, "If anyone c- would come after me and does not hate his father, mother, brother, sister, he is not worthy of the Kingdom of God."

Seth: Right, and that's not meaning you actively, physically despise your-

David: Well, no. We're supposed to love our enemies-

Seth: Right

David: ... let alone our families. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. It's that by comparison-

David: By comparison

Seth: ... your love for the Lord and your hatred of sin ri- makes your affection for your family look like hatred.

David: Right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so what gives God the right here and Jesus the right in the New Testament to demand this kind of allegiance above standard filial allegiance? Like, what gives Jesus and God the right to do this?

Seth: I am the Lord your God. [laughs]

David: [laughs] There it is.

Seth: Like, I mean, that's-

David: Yeah. I mean-

Seth: ... I mean, that's the answer.

David: Is it just, is it just rule? Like, that-

Seth: Like, like he just-

David: ... like, he has the right to do so because he is the Lord.

Seth: The Lord, the Go-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the God.

David: The God.

Seth: Um, [laughs] I don't ever hear that one. I hear the Lord.

David: The Lord, the God. [laughs]

Seth: The God.

David: The C-

Seth: I hear, I hear the Christ

David: ... Alpha, Omega. [laughs]

Seth: I hear the Christ.

David: The God.

Seth: But I don't ever hear the God.

David: That's interesting.

Seth: I mean, w- I wonder why. [laughs] Anyway.

David: [laughs] It's be- because we don't like the idea of multiple Elohim, multiple ca-

Seth: Oh

David: ... lower- lowercase G gods. We've talked, we've mentioned that briefly before.

Seth: Um, I think that's part of it, and I think, too, like, if you are choosing as a priest not to enter into the normal mourning process in order to put yourself in the place of mourning over the sins of Israel-

David: Mm

Seth: ... you're communicating something very profound. Like, there are greater threats-

David: Mm

Seth: ... to the unity and the purposes of Israel than the death of family, but it's the wages of sin that are death, and these must be dealt with in order for God to continue to be with us. I don't know. I, I, I suppose-

David: No, I think that's really interesting. Yeah, I think that's, that's really interesting. It's saying that, like, you're going to go mourn and, and not, and not celebrate in a happy way, but commemorate-

Seth: Right

David: ... this death that has happened. It's sad. It's terrible. It feels like your heart's been ripped out, but by the priest staying away from it and saying that there is something far greater going on, uh, and it's in the death of these sacrificial animals, is that day after day after day, the only reason you're not like your mom in the grave-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is because of what we're doing here.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Is that this is far more important, because this is what keeps us alive. And, like, when Jesus demands total allegiance to himself, he's like, "Guys, there's physical death all the time. Like, people ph- people physically die all the time." And, and, and g- Jesus obviously hates that. He died and conquered the grave to take that death away.

Seth: Right.

David: He's like, "But there is an eternal death, an eternal separation, an eternal mourning, and I've come to deal with that."

Seth: Right.

David: "And so allegiance to me is, is far greater because I'm talking about you're going and s- and spreading a message about eternal life."

Seth: Yeah.

David: That's, that's far greater-

Seth: Which is-

David: ... than, than, than physical death is worse

Seth: ... which is what Jesus will do when he resurrects people from the dead. He says, "Rejoice-"

David: Right

Seth: "... that Lazarus is raised from the dead, but rejoi-" or, like, or with demons, he says, "Rejoice that the demons are subject to you in your name."

David: Or no, don't rejoice.

Seth: Or don't, sorry, don't rejoice.

David: Yeah, in Luke, yeah, don't rejoice.

Seth: But rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

David: Right.

Seth: And even with Lazarus, it's like, let's celebrate, but the point of that miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead is that we will be raised from the dead when we put our trust in Jesus-

David: Right

Seth: ... w- as he dies.

David: Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good. Uh, I'm just... Yeah, it, it is a crazy thing, though, that Jesus would just command... A- and maybe, maybe family for, maybe, here, this might be helpful. So, like, let's think culturally.

Seth: Right.

David: So both for Leviticus and for Jesus' time, um, one of the core identifying parts of your life was-... who your family was.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? Their social position, what their name meant in the community, right? Like, you lived with them, uh, in proximity throughout your whole life.

Seth: You probably, you were probably doing the same job your father did.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: Right, yeah.

David: Yeah. And so it's like who your family is is a really big deal, and I think us in the West probably have a harder time making those connections. Like, yeah, I love my mom.

Seth: Right.

David: You know, but like-

Seth: I'm not gonna live next to her the rest, the rest of my life [laughs].

David: [laughs] Right, but she's not my identity.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? Uh, but here, it's very close to your identity, and to not be intimately involved in these processes-

Seth: Right

David: ... was-

Seth: To not go to your mom's funeral would be hatred of your mother.

David: Yes. Yeah.

Seth: Right.

David: Right, definitely. And, but I, I'm like, yeah.

Seth: I mean, we would still say that today.

David: Yeah.

Seth: If you don't go to your mom's funeral, like, there's something wrong-

David: Right

Seth: ... with your relationship-

David: Yes

Seth: ... with your mother.

David: I think what I'm getting at is the, the center like, cultural identifying factor of who we are might not be family, but it was back then.

Seth: Right.

David: And so that, it wasn't n- necessarily that Jesus was just saying like, "I just want you to love me more than family." He was saying-

Seth: Right

David: ... "I want you to love me more than anything."

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Right? And so it might not be family for us.

Seth: What could be more important than family?

David: Right [laughs].

Seth: Right.

David: Right.

Seth: I mean, we would still say that.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: Like, there's nothing more important than family.

David: Right.

Seth: We might even say there's nothing more important than love.

David: Yes.

Seth: And so, like, and who you love and the communities that you build around yourself. It's like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... who do you love?

David: Right.

Seth: And what Jesus would say is, "I don't care who you love."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "I care that you love me above those that whom you love."

David: Yes.

Seth: And that matters that we phrase it that way because when we put au- when autonomous, individual self-expression expresses itself in loving relationships of all different orientations-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... like, you have to give up your loves for the love of Jesus.

David: Right. A- and you could automatically feel the whip, the like, the, the, the kickback, uh, even about like, okay, so like, is God evil for not letting me go to my mom's funeral? It's like, no, he's not evil. He's worthy.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, the only reason you wouldn't, you wouldn't go to your mom's funeral is if there was something that would just com- somehow more important-

Seth: Right

David: ... that you just could not be there for it, and God is saying he is that more important thing. And so when it comes to autonomy, self-expression, orientation, and we feel like the laws that God gives us, whether they're about monogamy or homosexuality or anything like that, we wanna, we'll say like-

Seth: That doesn't seem, that doesn't seem fair

David: ... I can't believe in a God who would do that-

Seth: Right

David: ... who would demand that of me. And, and His answer is, "I'm, I, I promise I'm worth it."

Seth: Right.

David: Like, "I'm wo- I'm better than what you think will satisfy. I'm better than what you think is, is your core identity."

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. Whew.

Seth: So do you think Jesus was actually saying to that man, like, "Don't vis- don't go to your father's funeral"?

David: I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. There's a lot of interpretations of that. Uh, people even talk about like how-

Seth: If we're a kingdom of priests-

David: Right, yeah

Seth: ... like, it makes sense that Jesus would say, "Okay, well, you used to apply to the priests"-

David: Oh, I see what you're getting at. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Seth: ... now applies to you. Do you think that's what actually was happening?

David: It's quite possible, but I don't necessarily think that, that this prohibition continues to us today as a kingdom of priests, that we can't go to funerals or be coroners-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... you know, or, uh, or medi- medical examiners who do posthumous examinations [laughs]. What?

Seth: I just... Never mind. [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: I just, uh, watched a whole thing about medical examiners and coroners.

David: Oh, okay. [laughs] Anyway, so no, I, I don't know. I, I think it was, it was a heart disposition, like you said originally. Like, was like maybe, maybe it did mean for him in that specific-

Seth: Right

David: ... situation, "Hey, man, let's go. Don't go back home."

Seth: Right.

David: 'Cause who knew, who, who knows how far he lived? Who knows how long the, the, the, the funeral would've taken? It was about-

Seth: Right, right, right, right

David: ... are you sold out for me or not?

Seth: Right.

David: And like, when I read it again yesterday, I was preparing for this, I was like, "I wonder if his dad's even dead yet."

Seth: Oh.

David: Like, he might-

Seth: Right, right, right, right

David: ... he might have it, "I gotta, I gotta wait till my dad passes away, put my family in order, maybe even instantiate my younger brother as head of household-

Seth: Right

David: ... then I can come. I gotta get things in order."

Seth: Right. Well, think about the disciples.

David: Mm.

Seth: Whenever Peter, James-

David: Oh

Seth: ... and John drop their nets.

David: Yep.

Seth: Like, so just pause. Those nets would've been passed down for generations.

David: Sure.

Seth: To drop their nets is disrespect for all their ancestors.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And it's an, an abdication of their responsibilities to their future children.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: Right?

David: Yes.

Seth: So when they drop the nets and follow Jesus, it's literally leaving everything.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It's leaving all ties to their family, not only disrespect... Like, they're disrespecting their elders and refusing to provide in a way that makes sense for everybody else for their future generations. They're leaving their families to follow Jesus. They choose relationship with Jesus, communion with Jesus-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... being his disciples to, um, uh, I'm trying to think [laughs].

David: Yeah, yeah-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... to, to follow him.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah, to be with him, and I think, again, I think as we wrap up this section, that, like, the drumbeat of this section, I think, that we've drilled down into is God is worth it.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, he's better. The only way any of these laws could make sense, and then, then Jesus would then extrapolate them to not just apply to this one class of people who actually work in the tabernacle, but to the priesthood of all believers, is that the only way he could say, "If you don't, if you follow after me, don't hate your mom" [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: The only way that is not the most evil thing that's ever been spoken is if he is surpassingly better, if he is worth it. [gentle music] Okay, but it's not only the, um, like, going to funerals or not, being around dead bodies or not that separates the priests from the rest of the Israelites as a higher code. There's also stricter standards on who they can and cannot marry.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so-

Seth: Can't marry a prostitute, can't marry a-

David: [laughs] Right

Seth: ... a, somebody who's been divorced.

David: Yeah.

Seth: They can't, um, uh, and obviously all the laws that have come before, can't marry your sister, can't marry-

David: Right, yeah, uh, and especially the high priest has the most selective... Like, he can only, he's only supposed to marry a virgin of his own clan. Uh-

Seth: Right

David: ... and, like, and there's several reasons for that.

Seth: Limits the dating pool a little bit.

David: It li- yeah, it limits the dating pool a little bit, and you know, it also makes sure that-... whoever his firstborn son is who will be the next high priest, right-

Seth: Right

David: ... is his. You know, because-

Seth: Right

David: ... if she wasn't a virgin, that first one that comes out-

Seth: There's a chance that she's not

David: ... there's a chance that it's not his.

Seth: You don't know, right.

David: Yeah, 'cause they didn't have, you know, DNA testing back then. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: You know, maybe if there was a, a one redhead in the dating pool, they'd be like, "Hold on a second." [laughs]

Seth: Wait a second.

David: But other than that... [laughs]

Seth: Ol- old Levi over here. [laughs]

David: [laughs] Uh, and so yeah, like you said-

Seth: The only redhead-

David: The only redhead

Seth: ... Jew [laughs]

David: His name would definitely be Le-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... Levi too. It would definitely be Levi.

Seth: Esau.

David: Esau, oh yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Fire head.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Olf- yep.

Seth: Ol' fire.

David: Ol' fire. Okay, uh, but you know, yeah, he, he's not supposed to marry a divorced woman or a woman who has been defiled or a prostitute. None of these he's supposed to, he's supposed to marry. Um, and w- and w- I'm just like... And it says because he, they would, that would profane him and his, his offspring. And I'm just like, "What?"

Seth: Why would that-

David: Why would that-

Seth: ... profane?

David: ... profane him and his offspring?

Seth: What is profane?

David: Yeah, I think that is kind of the, the, the same idea that we've had with, um... It's the making of something clean, it, and it's making it unclean. So, um-

Seth: Okay

David: ... there-

Seth: 'Cause when I, when I hear profane, I have a much stronger category than like... 'Cause like unclean and clean, it's like you touch a dead body or you go clean up your dog's mess outside in the backyard. You're unclean until the evening, you know?

David: Oh, right.

Seth: Like, you know, it's like, that, uh, s- when you become unclean, that's not always a big deal. We've talked multiple times that it's not necessarily a sin, an issue of sin. But profane feels like it's not just bad, it's profane.

David: Mm.

Seth: You know?

David: So like maybe it's something different than defilement?

Seth: That's what I've, that's what I, that's what I read into it.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So maybe that's my-

David: I'm curious

Seth: ... me, me, me reading too much into it, but.

David: Yeah, I don't know. Let's find out here. So let's see. So that they might not profane the, uh, his offspring or his people. So, uh, let's see here. Profane... Oh, I'm trying to look at the root of it in the Hebrew.

Seth: I think it's-

David: To be... It, it, yeah, to, it's, it's, looks like it's the same, to be defiled by a reprehensible thing.

Seth: So d- so when I think, when something's profane-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and I think that's just the worst category, that's probably not the best way-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... to think about it.

David: I don't, it doesn't look like it. It's a really common word. Um, and-

Seth: It's just a word that we don't use

David: ... and like a lot of, and like a lot of it senses is to like dishonor, to defile, and we've read a lot about defilement in Leviticus so far, so it, it might, it might even be very similar to that.

Seth: It's like you're gonna make your bloodline unclean.

David: Right.

Seth: Right, okay.

David: Yeah. So but then, what I just, I could not escape this, and I just, I like am just jumping to it really quick, 'cause I just could not escape this. The, as I was reading these things-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and I'm, I mean, I'm already thinking about Jesus as our high priest, 'cause that's gonna-

Seth: Right, right

David: ... that's the main point we're gonna make in this whole episode. We'll get there. But I couldn't help, help thinking about, okay, if Jesus is our high priest, he breaks all of these rules.

Seth: Yep.

David: Right? Because, um, you know, i- so like Jeremiah 3:8 talks about how we're all divorced. God has handed us his c- th- handed Israel their certificate of divorce.

Seth: And we've all abandoned him.

David: And we've all abandoned him and his covenant, and we've, we've r- rebelled against him. Uh, it's-

Seth: Hosea makes that, like, explicit.

David: Yep.

Seth: And by marrying a prostitute-

David: Yep

Seth: ... who decides to leave him, and then he remarries her. [laughs]

David: Exactly. And so not only, like, are we, are, like, are, are we supposed to see ourselves as the prostitute that God marries, you know, in Hosea, we're actually called all throughout the, the, the, uh, prophets prostitutes-

Seth: Right

David: ... that we whore after other gods, and we do. We, after other idols, after ourselves, after-

Seth: Multiple times in this passage it'll call, say that we're whoring after other things.

David: Yep, and then, uh, we're defiled constantly. Uh, and, and it's a good, it's like good prophetic language too, is that we've defiled ourselves with sin, with other gods, with foreign, like, foreign, like, people, and that so we are divorced, defiled prostitutes, and yet we're the ones that Jesus marries. And I'm like, "The only way that this can happen and be okay, right, uh, that he could just break all these rules-

Seth: Right

David: ... is if, if what he does on the cross actually works."

Seth: Mm.

David: And so it, it al-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... like that he actually, uh, like marries us and, and, like, cleans us up first and makes us pure virgins.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? That are absolutely clean and perfect, and that he actually doesn't just, like, wipe away the guilt of our defilement, but makes us undefiled.

Seth: Right.

David: You know, perfect. Uh, that, that, like, somehow blots out the past prostitutions.

Seth: Right.

David: You know? And like then he can marry us because we are his perfect bride. And like, and that's the picture we see of ourselves-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... as the church in the New Testament-

Seth: That's right

David: ... is that we are the perfect, spotless-

Seth: To put, like, the-

David: ... bride of Jesus

Seth: ... theological terms on it-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... you have, um, you have purification of sin-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... or forgiveness of sin. So it's like you were once defiled, unpure, um, prostitutes.

David: Yep.

Seth: And God forgives you. He wipes-

David: But he justifies you.

Seth: He justifies you. Well-

David: Justification.

Seth: He wi- well, not there yet 'cause-

David: Okay

Seth: ... well, he justifies you. He's like, he makes you innocent. He, like, takes away your sins. He gives you a blank slate in one sense.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: And then he gives you God's own righteousness.

David: Right.

Seth: He imputes to you-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... God's righteousness, justification, or he calls you righteous.

David: Yep.

Seth: And so that's what we're talking about, but with just a different metaphor.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It's like God takes away your sexual infidelity, making you as if you were a virgin, and then he marries you as an, your new husband.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Your new faithful partner. Yeah.

David: Yeah. I just get, I just thought that was such a beautiful picture of like, I mean, the high priest would never be able to marry any of us. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: And like-

Seth: But Jesus can-

David: But Jesus can

Seth: ... 'cause he makes us new again.

David: Yes. Anyway, I just thought that was really beautiful.

Seth: That's good.

David: Okay, so next, the next, the next category of, like, ways that separate the priests from the rest of the people is, like, it, i- it's a little controversial, I think.

Seth: You can't, you have to be physically whole.

David: Right.

Seth: You can't be disabled.

David: No deformities.

Seth: In any way.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so, like, as soon as I was reading this, my f- first question was like, what is the Lord's heart then towards the disabled?

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, does he not see them? Does he see them as s- like, unable to enter his presence? Like, what, like, why... Well, one, why are these commands here?

David: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Seth: And then-

David: What does that say about the heart of God?

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. So why, and you've already kind of hinted at it here i, in, by using the word wholeness-

Seth: Right

David: ... is that God is concerned, um, for his symbolic... people for these laws that he's having them carry out at, uh, for wholeness. Like, we have, we have laws about, like, not making a garment out of two different kinds of material.

Seth: Right.

David: Why? That seems arbitrary. No, it's because it's all about wholeness, and it's-

Seth: Right

David: ... it's oneness, and it's complete, and it's seamless. You know, all these things. And, uh, don't sow a, a field with two types of seed. And it's like, why? Wholeness, oneness.

Seth: Right.

David: You know, completion, perfection, those kinds of things. That's the image that God wants to have on display, and if the priests are preeminently h- the physical embodiment of his character, of his holiness, of his oneness, of his, um, his unity and wholeness, then he wants his representatives, those who go... And we're, we're not talk- we're, the ones we're talking about are the people who go out to the altar, take the offering, and sacrifice it. They're the, they're the poster boys-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... right, of, of the priestly system. He wants them to be perfect looking.

Seth: Right.

David: To not have any kind of deformities. Like, so, like, no-

Seth: So it's a, it's an extension of the command, "Be holy-"

David: Right

Seth: ... "as I am holy." I am perfect, so those who are-

David: Blind, lame, have a mutilated face or a limb too long, an injured foot, an injured hand, a hunchback, a dwarf, um, anyone who has a defect in his sight, an itching disease, scabs, or crushed testicles.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: So, like, that, that's a lot of different things that you could be born with-

Seth: Right

David: ... or could've happened to you to damage you physically for the rest of your life, and God says they cannot minister the, the sacrifices, administer the, the sacrifices.

Seth: Right. They can still eat the food. They-

David: So that's a very important point-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is that God is not casting them out at all. In fact, like you've said, they get to eat the food that freely comes.

Seth: Right.

David: And they don't even have to do the work. So actually, they get all of the benefit and none of the responsibility.

Seth: Okay.

David: They get all of the s- like, the, the status. They're still a part of the priestly order. They get to live where the priests live. They get to be called what the priests are called. They get to eat and be provided for as the priests eat and are provided for. The one thing they're not allowed to do is go out and do the work of the priests. So they get all the grace, right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: But have to do none of the work.

Seth: Hmm. Yeah.

David: Which I, I think is a beautiful picture.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so before we make a jump that's, I think, ev- I'm like, "Oh, okay, we'll make that jump." But, uh, I think the heart of God-

Seth: Right, right

David: ... uh, I, I think what we need to see is that he's preeminently concerned about showing Israel that he is, that, that he is perfect and that, like, the, the ones offering the sacrifice on, on, on the, the worshipers' behalf are perfect. Because, like-

Seth: Right

David: ... you could wonder, if that's my go-between, is it gonna fail? Like, if a blind person is administering my offering, is it going to be messed up?

Seth: Right.

David: And, uh, and, like, the, the, the, the prohibition-

Seth: I keep thinking about-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... I keep putting a Christian hat on this, and, uh, like, a, like a after Jesus hat on this.

David: Oh, okay.

Seth: And I've, I'm, I keep thinking in, like, well, like, one of the reasons why we w- I worship the Lord now is that he uses unlikely people.

David: Yes.

Seth: And I mean, that's an Old Testament hat too. Like-

David: Big time

Seth: ... God uses the second born. [laughs]

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Not the first born.

David: Right.

Seth: He uses what's weak to shame the strong. And so part of me thinks that, like, wouldn't it be a greater te- testament to God's grace that the people who are administering those are those least, like, in that society, the least able to, like, the, the least likely people to be going between man and God are these imperfect people. And so I wanna th- say that wouldn't that be a symbol of God's grace?

David: Hmm.

Seth: Right? Because that's the way I think about myself. Like, now, it's like I should not be able to enter God's presence and make demands or pray to him or be in the Holy of Holies, yet he allows me to.

David: Anyway, e- even-

Seth: I, I-

David: ... in the story of the gospel when Jesus heals people-

Seth: Uh-huh

David: ... like, you're supposed to identify with the lame.

Seth: Right.

David: Identify with the blind.

Seth: Yes.

David: Because you can't see the Lord apart from him calling you. You can't walk without him raising you up. You can't live without him-

Seth: Right

David: ... resurrecting you from the dead.

Seth: I think there's a few things to consider here. One is that, th- that, that even the priests later in Numbers start complaining that they have to do all the work, and so this isn't, like, necessarily, like, the best position that everyone wants to have.

David: [laughs] Yeah.

Seth: Is, it, like, this is hard work in blood and guts. This is a gross job.

David: I was thinking about, uh, 1 Samuel when the ark is being-

Seth: Oh, yes

David: ... trans- 2 Samuel, and every six steps, David demands that they sac- make a sacrifice on a 10-mile journey.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Can you imagine how you'd be like, "God, David, we hate you so much."

Seth: [laughs] One-

David: "David is the worst"

Seth: ... two, three, four, five, six, put the ark down, build a little altar, slaughter another lamb-

David: Oh my gosh

Seth: ... start another fire.

David: Uh, not start another fire. They would be keeping the fire ablaze.

Seth: They would be keeping the fire going.

David: [laughs]

Seth: But still.

David: Yes.

Seth: It's a whole thing. You gotta wait for the-

David: Right. Exactly

Seth: ... the wood to heat up. You gotta make sure-

David: Yep

Seth: ... there's enough air in it. It's a whole thing.

David: So it is.

Seth: One, two, three, four, five, six.

David: Two, three, four, five, six. Do it all again.

Seth: Do it again. [laughs]

David: For s- 10 miles? [laughs]

Seth: 10 miles. Right. And so it's, it's not this, uh, high, prestigious job. These people aren't allowed to own land, right?

David: Yep.

Seth: They have to spend their time in blood and guts, and then the family members, the wives, the daughters, the sons th- that are unmarried, you know, and now the physically deformed just get to sit back and eat all the free food.

David: Right.

Seth: And so, like, I think-

David: I assume they have other jobs, but-

Seth: Yes, but I'm just saying, like-

David: Right

Seth: ... I th- I, I, I don't think we need to see working the altar as, like, this high desired station. It's never presented as such.

David: Hmm.

Seth: And so, uh, the only time it becomes, the high priest becomes a coveted position is in the Roman Empire when it's a figurehead position, you know?

David: Right.

Seth: And, and, like, and then it's bought by political offices, like Simeon.

David: Well, I mean, we've talked about, like, wanting to be in the presence of the Lord.

Seth: Yep.

David: And so th- that's one of the things that the priests get to do. They get to work in the presence of the Lord.

Seth: Well, yeah.

David: And the high priest gets to enter-

Seth: The high priest, yeah

David: ... the presence of the Lord.

Seth: Right. And so, uh, so I think that's one thing we need to remember, is one, that this is a hard job, and two, that God is, is, is not saying who gets to come near him and not necessarily, right? We're talking about those who go to the altar. Worshipers could come to the altar

Seth: Right.

David: And, and so like-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... I, I mean, we're not talking about who gets to come near him or not.

Seth: That's true.

David: We're talking about who's working at the altar, who's, who's the, the gas station attendant, you know? Like, that's what we're talking-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... we're not talking about it's like who can fill up their car, we're talking about who pumps the gas. And so-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... um, a- and so I think that a- and, and those who pump the gas, those who work at the altar, he wants to show that they are going to be a perfect mediator, that, that that is God going out there and accepting the sacrifice. Like, they are God's representative.

Seth: Right.

David: And God is like, "I'm perfect, I'm whole, I'm complete, and I wanna be represented as such." And, and so I don't think it's, I don't think it has anything to do with God excluding these people, because they're never looked down upon in this text.

Seth: Right. And that's helpful, too, because it makes a little bit more sense about what Jesus does in the New Testament. So the Holy of Holies becomes manifest, becomes incarnate, becomes a human being, and then when that h- that Holy of Holies walks around Israel and finds literally, I think, almost every category of these people, and he heals them, and he makes them whole.

David: Yep.

Seth: And he, the presence comes to them. Like crippled people-

David: Yes

Seth: ... tear apart the ceiling, and Jesus heals them, and he forgives their sins. Like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... he finds a lot, lame people with crippled hands and crippled feet, and he heals them. Zacchaeus is a dwarf. Like, every i-

David: Yep

Seth: ... the only one I couldn't find was crushed testicles, but one of the first things we hear about in the book of Acts-

David: As a eunuch

Seth: ... is the Ethiopian eunuch-

David: Yep

Seth: ... who is, opens the Book of Isaiah and is saved and baptized. [laughs]

David: Yes.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: Right. Yeah, Jesus goes to all these people, and he is the perfect representative of God. He is the, the only one who could actually be seen as whole, right, like the priests were, were only representing.

Seth: Right.

David: Uh, he's actually perfect because he was actually God. And then think about this. Think about this that Jesus does. I- in the parable, uh, in, um, Luke 14, he, he tells this story about a wedding feast that he's throwing, he's throwing a banquet.

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: Right? Uh, a meal. And, like, we've talked about meals, uh, here in Leviticus that the, the, the blind and the lame are allowed to eat the meal.

Seth: Right.

David: You know? Uh, and Jesus is throwing a meal, and he's like, "Go invite people," and all the people have excuses. You know, like, "Oh, I, I just got a new car," and no, [laughs] you know, they-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... I, I have, it's in my field and everything like that. Uh-

Seth: Amazing

David: ... and he goes, "Great. Go invite the poor, the blind, the lame, the deformed. Go get them off the streets and bring them in." Right? And so when Jesus throws a feast, who comes to the table? It's the poor and the blind and the lame, and it's like, it's the same thing that's happening here, is they get all of the grace and have to do-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... none of the work. And, like, that's us. We're poor, bl- we are physically unable to do the work that would allow us to come to the altar and offer a right sacrifice to God, and yet what does Jesus' last do? He gets on the altar himself, he administers the offering himself, and then he allows those who could not even approach him to just sit back and eat the spoils at the banquet. Like, that's what Jesus does, and that's the gospel.

Seth: That's good.

David: All of the grace, none of the work. [gentle music]

Seth: So what we should see here, then, is there's actually a very, there's a parallel section-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... to all the commands of the priests and the types of offerings that are acceptable. Here's a list of what the acceptable behavior and expe- expectation of priests, and then you have this whole section at the end of 22 about acceptable offerings, and the same thing is mentioned. You can't, they can't be crippled, they can't be miniature versions [laughs] of the-

David: Right.

Seth: Can't be ponies. [laughs]

David: Right.

Seth: Uh, they can't have crushed testicles. Like, they n-

David: Right

Seth: ... the offerings themselves need to be perfect.

David: Yes, and, uh, and that's because, uh, for, for one reason I, I found really interesting. So you know in our, in our episode about clean and unclean animals?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And how we talked about how the clean animals were representatives in the animal kingdom of Israel, right?

Seth: Right.

David: So-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you can kinda see, like, clean animals equal Israel.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Unclean animals equal Gentiles.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And then when Jesus comes, he, he gets rid of that distinction, right? And so that's why the food laws change. But here we see that the sacrificial animals equal priests.

Seth: Oh. Yeah.

David: So that's why they have the same, the same kind of moral codes attached to them, because the sacrificial animals are the priests of the animal kingdom. [laughs]

Seth: That's funny.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: It's really-

David: I read that in Wyndham this morning.

Seth: I was like, that's... I mean, it's like I'm sure I could read a lot more into that than I should.

David: Oh, definitely.

Seth: But, like, it's really, it's-

David: I just think it's an interesting parallel

Seth: ... what the hell, it gives me, like, a, just, it just helps me fill out the imaginative universe-

David: Yep

Seth: ... of the Bible. It's like the Bible has this imaginative universe of perfection and representation a- throughout everything. Everything represents-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... somebody. Human beings represent, particular human beings represent all people.

David: Yep.

Seth: Some human beings represent, do the work of all the people, and even some animals represent all-

David: All the other animals

Seth: ... all the other animals. Yeah.

David: Which is an interesting thing to just think about, like, that i- i- is God also making, like, l- like a, oh, what's the word I'm looking for?

Seth: Theological statement?

David: No, sorry. Oh, is he doing mediation for the animal kingdom? You know?

Seth: Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Like, because even the animals were in a, now are in a broken relationship with one another and with us and with the world around them.

Seth: Well, we know that the animals will be restored.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, we will live on a new heavens-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and a new Earth, and even though this is kind of hyperbolic language-

David: Yes

Seth: ... but, like, the lion will lay down with the lamb.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And a child-

David: And a, and a kid will go hang out with a poisonous snake.

Seth: Right. It's like, like, the, our relationship to the world and the world itself, the animals themselves, will be perfected-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... one day.

David: So it's just cool that the animals have a priest. [laughs] I just think that's neat. So yes, uh, the, the, the animals that are brought to be a sacrificial offering have to be perfect. Um, the, uh, like, the, and the only allowance that's made is, um, i- if there's an animal that you have that has, like, one leg longer than the other, you know, and kinda walks with a, like, in a circle when it walks. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] Uh-

David: "My cow only turns left, God. Is this one okay?"He just keeps eating the grass in a circle. It's like I got crop so- crop circles in my yard 'cause of my, my, my, my short-legged cow.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Uh, the only allowance for this is that kind of, that kind of animal, and not the ones with the oozing-

Seth: Sure

David: ... sores or... Just the, just the short-legged cow.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Only they could be offered as a free will offering, which is not any of the atonement sacrifices.

Seth: Right.

David: Those don't do anything with atonement. They're all about just like, "Man, God, I wanted you to have this."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "Here, this is for you." And God might be like, "Well, thanks for the short-legged cow, but well, you know, okay, thanks." [laughs]

Seth: Why, I wonder why that one gets a pass on the thanksgiving.

David: I just-

Seth: Oh, wait, what? Like, you... The short-legged cow is allowed for the thanksgiving offering.

David: Oh.

Seth: Why?

David: I think 'cause it doesn't make atonement.

Seth: But then why not use any of the other blemished animals? 'Cause they're all called blemished animals.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: And none of them can be used except this one.

David: Oh, I think because its, its blemish is, is less, I don't know, like horrifying.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Like, it's not-

Seth: It's not like an oozing scab.

David: Yeah, exactly. [laughs]

Seth: No, it's, it's just limping.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's just-

David: It's got a limp

Seth: ... I wonder too if-

David: It's got one leg shorter than the others

Seth: ... I'm also thinking like, okay, well, one, it's only got four legs. It's, like, doubles the opportunity to have a limp in an animal.

David: [laughs]

Seth: I just, like, wonder is... [laughs] I'm not a farmer.

David: I don't know how many animals are born with one, one or two short legs.

Seth: Right. That's what I'm saying. Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... is it a particularly common?

David: How common is this?

Seth: Maybe it is. Like-

David: Yeah, I don't know

Seth: ... there's, like, four of them.

David: Right.

Seth: There's, like, a lot of opportunity.

David: Yeah. But you think... Okay, so let's think about this. There's, there's a lot to unpack here, actually. You might be like, "This is weird," but there's actually a lot going on. So, so one, we need to, we need to remember the kind of economy that Israel was in, right? They are largely agrarian. You know, yes, there are gonna be some people who work in, in, like, clo- clothes making-

Seth: Right, but-

David: ... clothes making or, you know.

Seth: Even that's dependent on-

David: On animals, right

Seth: ... and it's subsistence, meaning, like, you not really... You don't have a savings account.

David: Yeah, no savings account, no Roth IRA or 401(k)-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... or anything like that. It's day to day kind of thing, and so y- your animal, and a- animals were expensive. I mean, they were, like, the literal cash cow, you know? [laughs]

Seth: You hated that. I'm okay with it.

David: Um, a- and so to, to, to give up an animal, um, for nothing, you know, like literally just to sacrifice it-

Seth: Right

David: ... was so insanely, bafflingly expensive to do. To then give up-

Seth: The best of the best

David: ... the best of the best not only is utterly expensive, it also, um, prohibits your future because what you do in breeding practices is-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... you take your best and you mate them with your best.

Seth: Right.

David: And you create a great, like, healthy, strong line.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so you wouldn't... You don't mate deformities with deformities-

Seth: Right

David: ... because you're gonna have just weird little offspring calves that just, you know, can't even walk. [laughs] And so-

Seth: I'm imagining a cow with the two, the front right leg and the back left leg as really long. [laughs]

David: Oh my goodness.

Seth: The other diagonal legs-

David: Are just dangling. [laughs]

Seth: Just like, it's just... Anyway.

David: Like a table you can't get to stop wobbling. [laughs]

Seth: Exactly right.

David: And, um, w- there, there are animal sensitive people out there who are like, "Stop it."

Seth: Stop. [laughs]

David: We're, we're sorry.

Seth: I feel bad saying it out loud.

David: Yeah, you should.

Seth: But-

David: You're horrible

Seth: ... it mi- that was where my mind went.

David: Uh, but anyway, uh, and so, like, this is just insanely costly. It costs their present, it costs their future, it costs their past. This is a very costly thing. So i- I think that's the first thing that we should notice here is that sacrifice in the Levitical system was a costly thing for the worshiper, right? It was, it was expensive, and, uh, and I think that is meant to, um, communicate something.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That, that, that sin and uncleanliness, like, they ev- they invoke a cost, and it should be your life, right? And that's an expensive price to pay.

Seth: Right.

David: And so I've, I... You can't just come and bring me a blade of grass and throw it on the altar and think, and then you'd know you'd be atoned for it, 'cause you'd have no cognitive-

Seth: There w-

David: ... category for-

Seth: Right

David: ... what you deserved.

Seth: It wouldn't.

David: But whenever you look at your prized lamb that would, would have been the greatest, like, line for your future-

Seth: Wagyu lamb

David: ... Wagyu beef.

Seth: [laughs]

David: And you put it on... You're like, "Man, I, this... I really messed up."

Seth: Right.

David: Like, "I really deserved something terrible."

Seth: Right.

David: Yep.

Seth: Or like, "The Lord sees what I've done as-"

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... costly."

David: "The Lord sees what I've done as costly," yeah.

Seth: Right.

David: I think that's really helpful, yeah.

Seth: Because, like, I think for me, it'll, it'd be probably hard. I was like, "I don't think I'm as bad as all this."

David: Yes.

Seth: 'Cause, like, I'd be-

David: Yes

Seth: ... I, I'd bring my offering and it'd be like, "I don't think this is really what my, what my sin demands."

David: Right.

Seth: But apparently the Lord does. [laughs]

David: Yes. I didn't know my uncleanliness was... I don't think my uncleanliness is really this costly.

Seth: Yeah, like-

David: It's not that big of a deal.

Seth: Right. Wagyu steak costs like $100 an ounce.

David: Right.

Seth: Or whatever it is.

David: Whatever it is, yeah. [laughs]

Seth: I don't actually know, 'cause I don't eat-

David: It's definitely not that much. [laughs]

Seth: I don't eat Wagyu steak.

David: On the regs.

Seth: On the regs. [laughs] But like, to, like, place-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... a whole side of beef-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... and be like, "I don't really think..."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But the Lord does.

David: Yeah. And you're able to see, oh, this is how God views sin and uncleanliness. Like-

Seth: So I was reading John Owen, he says the same thing about Jesus.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It's like, we don't see our sin as costly as-

David: Right

Seth: ... the Lord does.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But the Lord sees it as so costly, he recognizes the need to sacrifice-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... himself.

David: Yes.

Seth: And like, if the Lord won't even spare his own son-

David: Right

Seth: ... how much more will he not spare us?

David: Right.

Seth: Like, like-

David: Yep

Seth: ... he does spare us because of his son.

David: Yes.

Seth: But like, if that's what it demands-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... what must my sin feel like?

David: Right.

Seth: And if the Lord is willing to punish his own son, will he not most certainly punish the world?

David: Right. Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like-

David: Yeah, it's like weight.

Seth: It's like-

David: It, it adds all of this

Seth: ... it adds weight. Yeah, yeah.

David: Yeah. Yeah, I love that he, he gave the first fruits of heaven, the best of heaven's flock-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... himself. He didn't give Gabriel or Michael or a cherubim or-

Seth: Right

David: ... seraphim or anything like that. He, he gave himself. It was the best that heaven had to offer.

Seth: Without spot or blemish.

David: Without spot or blemish.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah. Uh, okay. So not only is the sacrifice costly, there's also, like, a reason, a ritual reason why the sacrifice has to be perfect.

Seth: So why does it have to be [laughs] ritually perfect?

David: Um, yeah. So I think it's because the o- the offeror, the worshiper coming with the sacrifice is not perfect. They are atoning for their imperfections.

Seth: Right.

David: And so the sacrifice has to have the quality that they do not have, perfection-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... spotlessness, blamelessness-

Seth: Right

David: ... purity, life.

Seth: Right.

David: And so they're trading that, you know, for themselves. And so they're saying that, like, "I'm putting my imperfection on this perfect offering, and its perfection is coming onto me."

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Uh, and that's what Leviticus calls purification.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? And so it- it- its blood then is allowed to purify me.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Now, if it was, if it was spotted or deformed or imperfect, its blood would do imperfect, spotted-

Seth: Right. I wanna make a... We, we keep-

David: ... purification

Seth: ... using this language like, like that, like, "it would make," symbolically.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... 'cause I think one of the things that I even get trapped into thinking is that the Hebrew people thought that there was something special and magical about these transactions, that when they offered them, they were automatically absolved. That's not what's happening. These are symbols for life. These are symbol- symbolic representatives of the animal kingdom and of the nation of Israel, and it's by their trust in the fact that God has ordained these means that they are saved.

David: Right.

Seth: Because I just wanna make sure we say that because I think I've had a lot of confusion over the course of my Christian life because I keep thinking like, "Man, well, why was blood so, why was blood so important then-"

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... "and it's not important now?" It's like, well, the blood ha- or you know, you know what I mean.

David: Yeah, yeah. Keep going. Yeah.

Seth: Like, you gave me a look.

David: I did.

Seth: But like, uh, the, the point is, like, the whole system has always been based around trust.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: God has ordained and chosen these particular means and these particular symbols that when you faithfully, trustingly execute them, that God will purify you and God will save you, right? Like...

David: Close, I think.

Seth: Okay.

David: I think it's part of the story.

Seth: Okay.

David: I think we need to, we need to make sure what we say is that, that... 'Cause a lot of people say that these are symbols, right?

Seth: Right.

David: Uh, and it ends there. And if that's so, then it's, it's really easy for the cross to start to erode into a symbol.

Seth: Right.

David: And so the r- the, what these sacrifices symbolized was not only that God had prescribed the system. It wasn't just trust in a system that God had prescribed. Um, the reason why God validated the system and looked at it and said, "This is the system I want used," is because of the ultimate sacrifice that would be made that would actually purify their sins, right?

Seth: Right.

David: Because in Romans 3, we read that before in, like, before Jesus came, God had left sins unpunished-

Seth: Right

David: ... so that he might store all the punishment for sin up to be poured out on Jesus-

Seth: Yes

David: ... the actual one who bore the actual wrath of God, right?

Seth: Right.

David: Because the, the, the blood of goats and bulls cannot take away sin-

Seth: And so what-

David: ... as Hebrews says

Seth: ... what's happening here then is a Hebrew person coming and offering a sacrifice knows that this is a symbol, and they know that it's not enough.

David: I don't know.

Seth: You don't think-

David: I, I don't, I don't think so.

Seth: You don't think they knew-

David: No

Seth: ... that the blood of bulls and goats was not enough to cover their sins?

David: No. Well, I don't know if that's the case. I, I just, I don't know if they thought of it as a symbol because then why would, why, then why are they going out and sacrificing to goat demons thinking it's gonna achieve something? I, I think... A- and like, this is part of their culture. Like, this is, like, this is something that a lot of cultures practice. Like, sacrifice was something that was necessary-

Seth: I know what... Right

David: ... in order to relate to the gods. Right?

Seth: I agree with you. This, this is more than a symbol.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It is symbolic, but it is more than a symbol, in the same way that a lot of Jesus' miracles were miracles, but they were more than miracles.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, they were actually, the end is in Jesus.

David: Yes.

Seth: And the sacrificial system is training and guarding and tr- like, getting people to start thinking about a future salvation that will work completely 100%. I think the Hebrew mind knew that the sacrificial system was incomplete and insufficient to do what they needed to do because it needed to be done day after day, which is exactly what the author of Hebrews says.

David: But when I eat, right, I don't think of a meal as incomplete because I have to eat again. Like, just 'cause I do something every day doesn't mean that what I'm doing is ultimately going to come to an end. Does that make sense? Like, I'm not thinking of a final and full meal that will m- make me never have to eat again.

Seth: Well, that's what Jesus says.

David: Yeah, but they don't know Jesus yet. [laughs]

Seth: Right. Well, I-

David: I just say, I think for the Hebrew mind, why else are Jews dying to get back into the temple? Because they want, like, they want these sacrifices to cont- like, they need propitiation. Like, they need atonement. Like...

Seth: Right, and they know that this is the closest thing that they have.

David: Right.

Seth: But they also know that it's not enough. That's my only point.

David: I don't know if they d- I, I don't know if they knew it was... Because if you look at the rest of the Old Testament, what, I feel like the opposite unfolds, is that not only do they think it's enough, they think it's more than enough. We can come, offer our sacrifices. "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," as Jeremiah 7 says.

Seth: Right.

David: The people were banking on the sacrifices that happened in the temple to cover even more than Leviticus says it will cover, to do even more.

Seth: Yeah.

David: To, to, to, to forgive murder and unjust practices in business. Like, they think it's even greater and stronger and more powerful. So I don't think they thought it was, it was insufficient. I thought, I think if anything, they leaned in it, into it being overly sufficient.

Seth: Right.

David: And so I, I, I just don't, I don't think that the Hebrew mind saw this as a, just a s- a symbol that was waiting for fulfillment. Like, I just, I-

Seth: No, I think I'm saying, like-

David: Okay

Seth: ... that's what you're supposed to see.

David: Oh, yes, as... Yes, we are supposed to see that.

Seth: Exactly right.

David: But you keep saying the Hebrew mind.

Seth: Right. Well, I, like, I think there was misunderstanding.

David: Oh, yes. I think God-

Seth: And that-

David: ... wanted the Hebrew mind to see this as an-

Seth: That's-

David: ... insufficient system

Seth: ... that's what I'm saying.

David: Okay. I thought you were, like-

Seth: Like, the Bible-

David: Yes

Seth: ... is giving you an, giving the Hebrew people an insufficient system.

David: Yes.

Seth: And there were faithful Jews who knew that. Not all of them knew that.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But there were faithful Jews who did know that.

David: Yeah, yes.

Seth: And part of the problem within Israel is that they keepMisplacing their trust in the system-

David: Yes

Seth: ... or in the external, external acts rather than the heart, which is the Book of Isaiah.

David: Right.

Seth: Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... I don't care about your new festivals. I don't care about your sacrifices.

David: Exactly.

Seth: Like-

David: Yeah, the, the only, yeah, the only way a, a prophet could have ever said, like, "I despise your sacrifices. Away with me, away from the..." Is if they knew that this wasn't it.

Seth: Right.

David: Right.

Seth: So that's my point. It's like-

David: I, yes, absolutely

Seth: ... the, the heart of the remnant of Israel knew, like which, and I don't mean by remnant, I mean the people that were truly Yahweh fearers-

David: Yes

Seth: ... knew that this was an insufficient system.

David: Right.

Seth: And the problem was that people kept going off in either one of two directions. Either they said, "It's more significant than it is," and they focused on the external things of the sacrificial system-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... to save them.

David: Right.

Seth: Or they started abandoning the law of God-

David: Yeah, and said, "We don't need it at all"

Seth: ... and doing whatever they wanted.

David: Right. Mm-hmm.

Seth: Which is the same thing that happens today.

David: [laughs] Yes.

Seth: We have Jesus-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... and His sacrifice is t- was, is actually enough for us.

David: Yes.

Seth: But our hearts are the same as the Old Testament Isr- Israel. We either say, "Actually, let's just focus on the externalities of what Jesus told us to accomplish, like social justice, being kind, and being loving."

David: "We don't need the sacrifice anymore."

Seth: "We don't need the sacrifice. We don't need the blood."

David: "We can clean ourselves up."

Seth: "We can clean ourselves up." Or they say, "Actually, none of it matters, and we can live how we want because there's the sacrifice for us."

David: Yeah, there's sacrifice for it. We, yeah, it doesn't matter how I live, you know, because, you know, there's grace.

Seth: Right.

David: There's grace for that, you know. I'm, I'm only human. There's grace for that.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So it's the same heart.

David: It's true.

Seth: Just fast-forward-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... a couple, couple years.

David: That's, that's really it, yeah. And so, uh, we, we kinda got into this by talking about the perfection of the offering.

Seth: Yes.

David: And, uh, the reason-

Seth: That was a rabbit hole. [laughs]

David: Yeah. I liked it, though. Uh, the reason why we need a perfect offering is because we need perfection. The reason why we need a pure offering is because we need purity. And so when Jesus comes, he is seen both as the perfect priest without deformity, right, who perfectly intercedes for us, who's allowed to go to the altar, which is n- now the cross, um, because he is without spot or, or blemish or deformity. He's the perfect priest, but he's also the perfect sacrifice, right? He's also the perfect victim. He is, he is-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... spotless, blameless, the best that heaven could give, um, the spotless Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Like, he's also that, and the reason why v- uh, you know, at the end of the day, the r- the, the reason why these animals were supposed to be spotless and blameless is because they were foreshadowings and forerunners to Jesus, the perfect spotless lamb, who doesn't just symbolically give us his perfection and assuage our guilty conscience.

Seth: Assuage.

David: Right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: He actually gets rid of our sin and actually, through his Holy Spirit living in us, can topple the towers of guilt that we've built up in our minds, um, and actually give us a clean conscience like that Peter talks about.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. So it's, it, like we need a perfect sacrifice because I need to be able to look at Jesus and, and I, I need to be able to read the Gospels and see his perfect life, and I need to read that, that he is God incarnate and know that he is the same God, of the same God, you know, that came in the flesh-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and say, "His perfection is mine."

Seth: Right, because-

David: I need that

Seth: ... like let's go back to the w- how we started. When you're walking into the law and the one holding you accountable to the law-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... you feel the weight of that.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And then you, knowing that this is an insufficient system and knowing that you are an insufficient person, you begin to realize the only way that I could actually come into the Lord's presence, sit next to the law, is if I have actually God himself.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: If like what God-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... requires is actually in me, if it's what I do and who I am. And in Jesus, we get precisely that. He is the sacrifice who is actually God and who gives what is actually God's into us. It becomes ours, so much so that when we walk into the Holy of Holies, when we come near to what holds us accountable and the one who, um, gives accounts [laughs]

David: Yeah.

Seth: We can go boldly before the throne of grace because the sacrifice has already been offered, and now we make requests.

David: Mm.

Seth: Before in this whole situation-

David: Right

Seth: ... God is the one making requests.

David: Wow. Yeah.

Seth: "Do this, do this, do this, do this if you wanna be in my presence." But now we go boldly-

David: Mm

Seth: ... into the presence of the Lord, and now we say, "Lord, could you do this? Could you do this? Would you do this?"

David: Right.

Seth: "In the name of the Jesus who purchased it for me."

David: That's amazing.

Seth: Amen.

David: And it's because we've been made into something new, right? We've been made like God, and I just can't help but think, you know, we've, we've had this language of purity and b- like spotlessness, and we've also had these categories of like the, what does, what, what, what's the priest's bride look like? Who can she be? Who can she not be? Uh, she has to be a virgin and, you know, holy and blameless. And like when we read, um, like Ephesians 5 or we read Revelation 19 or 21, we see these pictures of the church as the bride of Christ without spot or wrinkle or stain. And whenever, whenever we come to God's presence in the new heavens and the new earth, like or in the Holy of Holies-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... like you just b- kind of painted this word picture for us. The reason we can come in is because we're, we're Jesus's wife.

Seth: Hmm. Right.

David: We're the, we're high priest's wife. Like we-

Seth: Right

David: ... we're allowed to go in because we are one with him. You'll notice in, in Leviticus 21 that the, the, that the priests, um, uh, when they talk about whose funeral they can go to, uh, it ta- it, it talks about almost everybody except their wife, and it's because it's assumed that, um, that they can go to their wife's funeral because they are of one flesh with her.

Seth: Oh.

David: Right? A- and, and-

Seth: Right

David: ... so, yeah.

Seth: I didn't think about that.

David: Uh, and so in Ezekiel, this gets picked up in Ezekiel 24, whenever God wants to extrapolate, like Ezekiel as this preeminent priest for the people-

Seth: Right

David: ... where he says, "Don't even mourn for your own wife." Like-

Seth: Oh

David: ... 'cause he finally breaks this unspoken law

Seth: And, uh, and it makes him an exception of all exceptions.

David: Right, because-

Seth: Right, and so why can we go into the Holy of Holies? It's 'cause we're one with the high priest.

David: Mm.

Seth: Like, we are his wife, and so we get to be where he is, and, and like you said, now we get to make requests of him. Hu- husband, lover.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Can, can you, can you bring me a cup of water? [laughs] Like, I, you know. And so anyway, it's, it's really amazing.

David: Right.

Seth: This is, this is-

David: Will you provide my daily bread?

Seth: Will you provide... Yeah.

David: Will you forgive, will you forgive my sins?

Seth: Yeah. Like, and it's direct. Like, you don't need a sacrifice to forgive your sins anymore.

David: Right.

Seth: You don't need a sacrifice to protect you from the evil one, to cast away the goat of Azazel.

David: Yeah.

Seth: You just r-

David: And so I just think it's really good for us to think about when we, when we read the stuff in Leviticus about perfect offerings and no deformities and not being blind or not being lame or not having anything wrong with you, God is trying to create a conceptual category for you to see yourself, that no matter what physical ailment you might have, no matter what history of sin you may, you may have gone through, like, God has made you perfect.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: He has made you without deformity, without blemish, without any stain or past record. He's made you perfect, and the reason he's done that and the way he's done that is through being the perfect offering for you and giving you his very self so that you can have his very perfection. [upbeat music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to creating free gospel-centered media that speaks the gospel out of every corner of scripture. So to join us in our mission and view our resources, we invite you to visit spokengospel.com. [upbeat music]

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Why Priests Were Held to a Higher Standard — and What That Means for Us

Show Notes

Approaching the One Who Holds You Accountable

Allegiance to God Above Family Ties

Marriage Laws and the Bride Jesus Chose

Physical Wholeness and the People Jesus Healed

The Cost of a Perfect Offering

The Perfect Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice

Related Resources

Introduction to Leviticus

View our devotional on Leviticus 1-3

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Leviticus Introduction podcast

Listen to the Should We Obey The Law Today? podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 1-5: Offerings podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 6-10: Priests podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 11-15: Unclean Foods, Diseases, and Emissions podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 16: Day of Atonement podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 17-20: Blood, Sex, and Loving Your Neighbor podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 21-22: A Different Standard For Priests podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 23 and 25: Sabbath, Festivals, and Jubilee podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 24 and 26-27: The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows podcast