May 2025

Just like with every sacrifice, the grain offering had specific rules and regulations concerning what exactly was included. That’s how it was defined as “pure”—nothing outside of what God decreed could be included or the offering was null and void. In Leviticus 2:1, God says that grain offering should be of “fine flour” with oil […]

If the burnt offerings are the sacrifices that everyone remembers, then the grain offerings are the ones most often forgotten.  The reason is simple. Unlike burnt offerings, which are offered as a penance for sin, grain offerings are given as a way to show gratitude towards God. Just like the burnt offering, only the highest

I don’t know about you, but the idea of dozens of dead animal carcasses laying around the Tabernacle area sounds pretty revolting. I love a good BBQ, but those animals that we’re smoking have been dead for a long time and usually prepared offsite. I’m not slaughtering a goat in my backyard and transferring it’s

Call it ignorance or just plain lack of intelligence, but I always assumed that the priests were responsible for one-hundred percent of the sacrifices under the Mosaic system. The worshippers brought the animals, of course, but I (innocently) thought the priests took over from there. A re-reading of Leviticus 1 makes me second guess that

For those who are used to the sprawling introductions throughout the New Testament, Leviticus can be a bit jarring. The book hits the ground running; within a few verses, the Israelites are told about one of the core principles of the Judaistic system: the burnt offerings. These are exactly what most people think of when

After forty chapters, the condition of physical Israel is totally different than it was at the beginning of Exodus. In the first chapter, they were slaves. Now, they are freedmen. Earlier, they were a group of refugees. Now, they’re a nation. Identity is one of the recurring themes throughout the Bible. Just as the Israelites

It’s one of the oddities of our marriage that my wife and I have never lived in a “used” house. When we got married, a new neighborhood was underway in our town and we rented one of the first homes built. A couple years later, we built a house of our own in that same

You may have noticed a gap between the verse today and the verse yesterday. That happened for two reasons. First, I realized that at my current pace, I wouldn’t be finished blogging the Bible for another 20 years. That’s not a bad thing; certainly there are worse pursuits than spending time every day deeply entrenched

Now that construction on the Tabernacle is underway, it’s also time to start building the furniture and accessories that will go behind its curtains. Bezalel and Oholiab are responsible for that, too. Exodus 37 begins by talking about it’s most famous feature: the Ark of the Covenant. If you’re of a certain age, the first

The last few chapters of the book of Exodus read like a long to-do list. This person did that, another person made that, and on and on it goes til the end of the book. It’s essentially a fulfillment of all the planning that has gone on in the previous several chapters. For that reason,