Episode 2: Leviticus: Dinner with God: Chapters 1–3
What if worship is about more than just singing? In Leviticus, God's rescued people are invited to share a meal with the Lord himself. Come with us as we explore a vision of worship fuelled by delight, devotion, and fellowship.
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What particularly struck you from these initial chapters in Leviticus?
As you reflect on the voluntary nature of the offerings in chapters 1-3, how does it encourage you to greater thankfulness for all that you've received in and through Christ?
Turn to Romans 12:1. In what ways are you challenged to live more wholeheartedly in view of God's mercy?
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. This is the Bible study podcast for everyday life where we spend 20 minutes chatting through the Bible over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit. We're working our way through a different Bible book each season asking what it means and how it changes the way we live. Right now we're just beginning a season in Leviticus, and whether you're a regular listener or this is your very first episode, it is lovely to have you with us. Whilst it's our voices you're listening to, this episode has been made possible because of the gospel partnership with our listeners, who have generously given to make this happen. Thank you to everyone who has given over the last little while. We couldn't do it without you.
Felicity: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. My name's Felicity. I live in the States. I'm here as ever with my sister Sarah. She's in the UK. We are so excited to be kicking off a new season in Leviticus. We're gonna be digging into chapters one through three. We have our cuppa. And we're ready to go, Sarah.
Sarah: Ready to go with my fragrant cupper. I've got an Empress Grey here. Obviously Jay really went for it on the tea chat last week and really showed us that there's a lot of tea connections to be made and I wanna kind of just say up front that I had actually thought through my tea connections before he said them and stole them all.
Felicity: Yes, I know. I mean it that was just a gift and also a thunder stealer. I see that. Like that but that conversation was amazing. And we are just excited to get into this next bit. I mean, aside from the actual sort of fragrance of the tea and all of those things, just the the joy though of having a cup of tea together, like this kind of communal act of the you know, segue into Leviticus is a lot of communal things going on. And here we are.
Sarah: Nice. I like that segue. Absolutely. So for those who've just joined us, maybe for the first time, we're gonna read some scripture together, we're gonna talk about it, and we're gonna just press into what this means for us. We choose to pray before we press record. That's how we work things. We are really aware that we need the Spirit's help to open our eyes to see wonderful things in his law, and we can't do it without God's help, but we have already prayed, but if you're listening right now, why don't you press pause and pray before we then read? And I'm going to read chapter one of Leviticus. So we're going to be talking about chapters one, two, and three, but I'm just going to read chapter one. And I'm reading from the NIV version. Let's go:
“The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, Speak to the Israelites and say to them, When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock. If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting, so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron's sons, the priests, shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron's sons, the priest, shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat on the wood that is burning on the altar. You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. This is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, you are to offer a male without defect. You are to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priest shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. You are to cut it into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and the fat on the wood that is burning on the altar. You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He is to remove the crop and the feathers and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on to the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”
Felicity: Thank you, Sarah. Well I mean we've just been thrown into a world of offerings. If anyone is is is reading this, listening to this with their early morning cup of tea, I mean, many apologies for just the amount of blood that this whole book kicks off with.
Sarah: Felicity, before we even get into this passage, give us a flavour of like what has it been like to kind of wrestle and get into this rather than just going to AI and saying, give me a summary of chapters one to three? Like, give give us a flavour of your process.
Felicity: Yeah, 'cause it's, it's quite tempting, isn't it, sometimes to kind of look for the shortcut and like what is actually going on in this. But in resisting that temptation, what my experience has been is I've read and reread and sat in it and you know that kind of thinking where you're not really sitting with it, but you're just going about your daily day, just kind of thinking about things. Gradually the just clarity has begun to kind of take hold in ways that I'm more convinced of, I think than if someone else had given me a summary, whether it's AI or whatever whoever it may be. But as I've spent time in it, the kind of d dots have begun to be joined for me and my understanding of that, rather than kind of receiving someone else's.
Sarah: Yes. Which is so satisfying, isn't it? Because then you know that you've kind of you have been doing the work to get into it and the Lord has answered prayer to enable you to see something in it. and you're not just as you say, you're not kind of just trying to get that quick fix or that shortcut. It's tempting. But it's tempting because this is a very unfamiliar book of scripture, isn't it? But we want to say from the outset that we have not gone there. We have not gone to AI for the summaries. We have not gone there. Our conversations are the fruit of us just sitting in this over a number of weeks and months and we pray it's a blessing to others who are listening in. It's certainly been a blessing for us because we have reaped so much from the work of sitting in it and reading and rereading and one of the first things that we read is in verse one that the Lord kind of calls to Moses and he wants to meet. There's a tent of meeting here, Felicity give us give us a little bit of a flavour of the context and what's going on 'cause I that already has just been so cool for me to dwell on the fact that the Lord wants to meet with his people.
Felicity: Yes, the Lord wants to make. And actually, if we just back up a moment and take one step back to the end of the book of Leviticus, the book that comes before this. Exodus. If we just take one step back and just have a have a glance at the end of the book of Exodus that comes before this, we have this moment where the glory of the Lord kind of descends. He dwells with his people. But we have this problem, we have the glory of the Lord dwelling with the people, and He is calling from within the tent of meeting, and the people are outside of the tent of meeting. Moses is outside of that tent. But then if you fast forward a little bit and you go to the book after Leviticus, which is Numbers, that very first verse of Numbers, you see that Moses is actually in the tent of meeting. And so there's something that happens through the course of the book of Leviticus, or something that Leviticus enables in terms of that relational, that being with, dwelling with of this holy God with an unholy people. Because that is the you know, for the people at the time, the Exodus people, these is they're like, it's amazing, the holy God is here. What on earth are we gonna do? Because we are not holy. Like, how can we possibly be in the same place as this God? And Leviticus, Leviticus is the answer, and that's just been blowing our minds, hasn't it?
Sarah: Yes. So good, so good. But what's interesting here is that the answer isn't immediately given as to how these people are gonna dwell with this holy God. Instead, what chapter one, two, and three start with are kind of offerings of thanks. They're they're kind of voluntary offerings given in recognition of how much they have received, in recognition of their rescue from slavery, now they are God's people. And I think that's just really striking that he doesn't, yeah, he doesn't kind of start with the how is this going to happen. He starts with these in this invitation, this invitation to voluntarily give of yourself and give costly gifts in recognition of all they've received from the Lord.
Felicity: It's profound, isn't it? And I I love that that that's the starting point. And and in that, I mean what we have here, even just in this first chapter, but if we read those first three chapters, it's kind of like one thing after the other, isn't it? So you you get bulls, you get pigeons, you get like goat like there's all sorts going on here. And it's just worth saying that it seems that every offering that is given, one of these kind of animals is almost correspondent to a person, isn't it?
Sarah: How do you see that?
Felicity: So it's like the the very well, if you have a look at so verse three, you're to offer a male from the herd without defect, and then at the end of that verse, so that it will be acceptable, you are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering. So there's a there's a direct connection between as the person lays their hand. Sometimes, as that person is responsible for the whole community, if it's the priest doing it or or whatever, but the laying on of the hand, there's a there's a direct correspondence between this animal that is being sacrificed as an offering and the person or the people who are doing it. And in that act, and then if you look at verse four there, it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. And so and so this is what's going on 'cause this it's very alien, isn't it, this world of sacrifices. But but actually what's happening is that through this this kind of bloody mess, you actually have a people being accepted by God. And that I think that's just an important kind of mechanics of it.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah, it's a huge, isn't it? But I think it's been really striking walking through even just this first chapter and seeing the repetition of you, you, you. So this is a sacrifice for anyone to give. But you are to do a fair amount of it. So the priests are to do the holy cautious work, but you, as the person who's giving thanks, you are leaning your whole body, you are leaning your weight, kind of as you kind of identify with this sacrifice and in the first chapter, it's a burnt offering that you're not going to receive any of this. This is the whole offering is going to be completely incinerated before the Lord. It's costly. The first one is a bull, cattle, the next, the next one, sheep, next one, birds. And I love I think it's Geoffrey Harper in his commentary just says actually, this is you've got the kind of deluxe, you've got the standard, you've got the budget version. Anyone can bring something, regardless ofYeah, regardless of your situation, there's provision for you to be able to bring this kind of offering of thanks. And that's just really I love that. I love that.
Felicity: I say I love that. I love that and we're gonna see that throughout Leviticus. There's just this really evident heart of God for everyone, for those who are on the edges, like financially speaking, situationally, whatever it may be, and that that are included in this. And what we have here, these first three chapters, these voluntary Thanksgiving offerings, we also have this kind of fellowship. Literally, we have the fellowship offering in in in chapter three, but this very act is enabling sort of Covenant fellowship, like like relationship connection, God and his people. Like we haven't got to the big kind of meaty bit literally of how God can really dwell with his people, but but this very starting point of Leviticus gives this flavor that God is a God of fellowship. God is a God of of being with his people. And this this whole act signifies that.
Sarah:. Absolutely. And that's that's where we kind of land in chapter three, isn't it? So chapter two, just briefly, we kind of get the grain offering. So again, a different kind of thanksgiving, think thanking the Lord for everyday blessings. I think what's important to notice down there is in chapter two, verse thirteen, it says, Season all your grain offerings with salt. Don't leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings. And just a reminder again of this, they have become God's people. He is their God. They are his people. There's a covenant relationship going on, as you were just saying. And the salt is just it's there to remind them. It's there to kind of remind them why they're doing this. And then we get to this chapter three, where this emphasis is on the fellowship offering between the Lord and the people. So it's not just that they would have fellowship with one another as a new people, but it's actually that they would eat with the Lord, that they would have fellowship with the Lord. And this is in chapter seven it tells us what kind of offering it is. It's a big, big bull going on here. Like this is not something you can get through as a just one single family in a day. This would be like, you know, the community feasting on this bull because you've got to eat it within the day. And that just that picture of God's people gathering together in rejoicing and worship in fellowship with the Lord. How extraordinary that they can do that. It's it's very cool.
Felicity: Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. And and that communal just like that is such a good reminder for us, isn't it? Like we're gonna get to you know, them then and us now and how how it's different, all those things. But just just that very heart of that actually, that together God's people come and give thanks, costly, whole life. You got, in order for this to happen, essentially life has to stop in order to kill a bull, go through all the rig and roll that's described here and then to sit down and eat it together. And there's there's just something in that of just like that is that is a really right and good thing for us to notice.
Sarah: And I think that does take us, that does take us through to the cross, doesn't it? So every week we're gonna be thinking through what does this look like for us to think about this in light of Jesus. We know that the whole of Scripture points towards him. He tells us that in Luke 24 and actually here it's not so much about the sacrifice, but it's about our response to his sacrifice, isn't it? These these are Thanksgiving gifts. They're gifts of devotion and adoration and thankfulness. And there's a kind of just their response to their salvation. That that seems to be the theme a along which we should go, do you think?
Felicity: I yeah, absolutely that the rescue that has happened, which we've read about in Exodus, you have this magnificent, mighty God who's rescued this people, sin and all, and in response to that, like undeserved, like necessary, the only way in which the people were gonna get out of Egypt, out of slavery was through this rescue by this God. And so it is right and it is good to respond with thankfulness. And and at every time we think about that Exodus rescue, the Bible just gives big fat signposts to help us see that there is a bigger rescue that's happened through Jesus on that cross, that we need that. There's no way in which we can be rescued from the bondage of sin, from death, essentially, without Jesus. And so as we see that and we understand that, then the the right and the good response is this costly worship this sacrifice and and it it takes it from in my mind Romans twelve verse one really comes into view there that where Paul says therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship and this idea that yeah we're not we're not killing bulls we're not we're not doing what's described here but our heart of worship and thankfulness and yes, that's where we're at that's where we should be. How we should be responding.
Sarah: And that it's an all of life thing, isn't it? So actually Paul takes it one step further, doesn't he? He doesn't just say like give some of your food offering or whatever it is. He's like, give of yourself. And it like that is the flavour of the burnt offering, isn't it? It's like as you identify with this bull, you're identifying you're giving all of yourself in devotion to the Lord. And that's Paul's language, isn't it? And and I think that's really challenging. Like it's really challenging, isn't it? Because actually it prompts the question of what am I holding back? What where am I tempted to give less than all my best? What is it like for me to really be motivated by grace, by the extraordinary gift of salvation that I have been given? And the only way I'm gonna be motivated to to give in devotion and adoration to the Lord is if I keep dwelling on my salvation and keep dwelling on what I've been given in Christ, that He's the means of my fellowship with God. He's the means by which any of this, any any kind of resemblance of thankfulness is even remotely possible, it's because of Jesus.
Felicity: I love that and I think that the purpose for us as we not one of the purposes for us as we stop in these chapters is literally that that this is unfamiliar and this does seem a little crazy to us that you would go through all these steps in order to bring sacrifice. But that very act of just being brought up to a bit of an abrupt halt here of like, what on earth is going on? Why would anyone do this? Like and the whole community is involved in this, that in itself I think gives me pause to as I consider why they are doing this, why I would then consider giving my whole life as a sacrifice. And and it sounds a bit extreme, doesn't it? But actually, when you consider who God is and what he has done and how Jesus is better than all that we read of here, that is a right and a good thing. And and I think as we have been in the Bible and as we consider all these, how you how this actually shapes our hearts and our lives and all these things, the more you sit in these truths, the more that shaping begins to happen, isn't it? It's not that you just read one sentence and you're like, okay, yeah, I'll just go and give my whole life as a sacrifice.
Sarah: No, and I think that's the case in Leviticus when you say that actually, like we need to be able to see the big picture here. We're like you can't just take these chapters out of context. Like we're that and that's the nature of what we're doing in this podcast. We're gonna walk through the whole book and we're gradually gonna be building this picture. But what we see in this first part is that the Lord's concerned for our hearts. This isn't a command, it's a voluntary devotion, voluntary adoration to the Lord and I just I like this the song, the hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, I just think it puts it forward so beautifully when it says this “were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” And I I just think that captures it, doesn't it? And I found myself, as I've been in Leviticus studying this. As of then after we th then sang that at church on Sunday, my heart has been welling over with deeper thankfulness because of Leviticus and I love that. I didn't expect that and it just been really, really cool.
Felicity: So good. I mean it gives me that kind of goosebumps, really, just hearing those words and then thinking on yeah, Leviticus things and just
Sarah: Would you pray for us, Felicity, as we close?
Felicity: Heavenly Father, we praise you, praise you so much for the rescue we have in Jesus. Thank you for this these chapters in Leviticus which which cause us to pause and to look up and to see you and to recognise that that you are worthy of all our worship and so Father, we ask that you would help us to see this rightly, to see you rightly. And as a result, would we be those who are are eager to give our whole lives as a living sacrifice. Would we have thankful hearts which prompt just the way we live our whole life in response to to what we know of you, what this rescue is, what it is to be your people. Father, we praise you so much that you go before us in this, that it's by your grace that we would be able to respond in that way. And we pray this in your name. Amen.
Sarah: Well, here we go. We've started. We're we're on the journey and bring it on for the next one. next time we are going to be in chapters four to seven of Leviticus. but for those who don't know, well actually two thirds of you use these. They regularly use our discussion questions either for yourselves or to dig deeper with others. That's what they're there for particularly in a book like Leviticus. Who can you ask to dig in with you and have these kind of conversations? It is so worth it. You'll get so much more out of it as well. So you can find our questions on our show notes where you listen. They'll be on our website. They'll be part of our weekly biscuit newsletter that comes out each week. Yeah, use them. Make the most of them. We really hope they are helpful for you. And we'll see you next week for chapters four to seven. We look forward to seeing you then.
Felicity: Can't wait. See ya then. Bye bye.
Sarah: This episode has been made possible by the generous donations of our listeners.
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