The One Year Chronological Bible - Week 9 Reflection Questions

Week 9 (Feb 23-Mar 1): Leviticus 20:1-27:34 & Numbers 1:1-6:27; 10:1-36

As you read through these passages of the Bible, reflect upon these questions individually, through journaling, in pairs, or in small groups...

1. One of the ways that the God of Abraham differed from the god of Molek was in rejecting child sacrifice.  Anyone sacrificing a child to Molek would be cut off and anyone who closed their eyes allowing someone else to sacrifice their child to Molek would be cut off as well.  We also read that anyone who cursed their father or mother would be put to death.  How are we to reconcile these commands? What makes them different?  How are we to interpret them today?
2. The Israelites were told to "Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.  You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you."  God desired that God's people remained faithful to God and avoided being acculturated.  In what ways are we acculturated into our modern society?  In what ways is God calling us to remain distinct and separate from the ways of the world around us?
3. When setting guidelines for the priests, we read that "No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores... No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the LORD.  He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God."  Given our modern understanding of God's love for everyone and our efforts toward "equal rights" to people with disabilities, how are we to understand these limitations on who may or may not present the food offering?
4. We read the instructions "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.  I am the LORD your God."  Farmers were to leave a little behind not in waste or haste, but to provide for those in need.  This is referred to as gleaning.  What might this look like in our modern methods of farming?  Given that many of us are not farmers, what might it look like for us to live out these instructions in our modern context?
5.We read that once the Israelites took the land that the LORD was giving them, that the land was also to receive sabbath rest.  People were to rest every seventh day and the land was to rest every seventh year. The LORD said that the crop every 6th year would last 3 years to feed them while the land lay fallow in sabbath and until the next crop came in. What purpose did this serve?  What would it look like for us to apply a similar principle today?
6. After seven sabbath years (49 years), the fiftieth year was to be a year of Jubilee.  It was to be a time in which freedom was granted, debts were forgiven and land was returned to it original owner.  "The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers."  What is your initial reaction to this concept (affirm, question, dispute)?  What would this mean for a society to practice Jubilee?  What would it mean for Jubilee to be practiced in our world today?  Do you perceive Jubilee to bring justice to people or to be unfair?
7.The laws of Leviticus provide rules for buying and selling of slaves with provisions for humane treatment of the slaves.  These understandings also factor in the year of Jubilee and the statement (similar to what the LORD said about the land) "Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants.  They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt.  I am the LORD your God."  Given our modern perspectives on slavery as a whole, how are we to interpret these portions of the law especially when we know our own history includes people who used texts like these to justify owning slaves?
8.After the census of the Levites was taken, the responsibilities of the tabernacle were divided up among the clans.  In what ways is this similar to or different from the ways that we function as a church/the body of Christ?
9. If you doubt the faithfulness of your wife (whether or not she has actually been unfaithful), Numbers instructs the husband to take her before the priest to drink dirty water.  If she remains healthy, she was faithful.  If she becomes sick, she was unfaithful.  What are your thoughts about this practice?  If you find it valuable, how so and how do you see it fitting into our modern context?  If you are troubled by it, how are we to understand this?
10. Numbers 6 tells of the Nazirite vow that may be taken in which a person abstains from fermented drink and anything coming from the grapevine as well as not allowing a razor to touch the person's head.  What was the significance of this vow?  Are there modern parallels to this?
11. In Numbers 6 we read a blessing sometimes referred to as the Aaronic or Priestly Blessing, "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."  Consider memorizing this passage and incorporating it into your prayer life.

 May the Lord bless and shape us through our individual reading and corporate study of His word this year.