SCBC Sunday School Lesson on Leviticus

This Sunday in our Adult Sunday School class we will be looking at the book of Leviticus. I’ve called the series “Old Testament Theology” since we are always looking for Christ in the stories of the Old Testament. One source I’ve been using to help me outline the lessons is Bruce Walke’s “Old Testament Theology”. I found the following quote from his section on Liturgy to be very good.

“A problem inherent in any liturgy is that it tempts humanity to rigidity and manipulation. Given to magical rituals and voodoo incantations, some worshipers throughout history have turned religion into a way to get what they want from God. Others have assumed that God is interested only in the proper execution of religious  procedures without a corresponding life that is attentive to God. These problems were anticipated by the narrator[speaking about Leviticus], and so he presented the liturgical material in a narrative context that emphasized the centrality of ethics. ..Liturgy without covenant fidelity is worthless.” OTT page 450.

This quote is helpful in wrestling with Leviticus chapter 10. As I say all the time to my friends “have you read the Bible?” in reference to some crazy story I’ve just read. Leviticus chapter 10 is craaazzyyyyyyy.

Chapter 9 has to be one of Aaron’s greatest moments ever, just read the last verse in chapter 9.

“And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces”

This is after Aaron does everything he was told to do. It almost seems as though he had made up for the golden calf whoops back in Exodus. Then you read the very next verse. Aaron’s sons are killed by the LORD for offering strange fire. It gets crazier, just keep reading, Aaron’s other sons goof up their part in the sacrifice, and they are NOT killed.

How are we to make sense of this?

I think Walke hits it out of the park when he says “these problems were anticipated by the narrator, and so he presented the liturgical material in a narrative context that emphasized the centrality of ethics.”

I would just help Walke out by changing the word ethics to Christ.