My Devotions (Lev 21-23)

Here are some things I learned through these passages:

1. It is possible for a priest to “defile” himself (21:1).
2. It is permissible to defile yourself to protect another (21:3).
3. Priests can marry if she has not been a prostitute (21:7); divorced (21:7) and a virgin (21:13).  Here again we see a significance between sexuality and spirituality.  The two are related in some sense in God’s eyes and should not be taken lightly.
4. If a priest’s daughter has sex outside of marriage, she profanes her father (21:9).
5. All sex outside of marriage is considered harlotry.  God has called His people to be separated unto holiness.  Sex outside of marriage defiles the Godly man or woman (21:7).
6. Men with defects including being blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, having a broken hand or foot, defects of the eye, skin, testicles or other defect makes a person imperfect physically and therefore unable to serve as a priest (21:16-21).
7. Your gifts to God can profane God’s name (22:2).
8. Unclean people are not to touch holy gifts given to God (22:3).
9. Unclean priests cannot eat the holy gifts (22:4).
10. You can sin, profane the name of God, and die because of your unwillingness to obey God’s commands concerning the proper giving of holy gifts (22:9).  This is because once a gift is given to God, it’s His.  Once it’s His, it’s holy.  Therefore, anyone who touches or approaches and defiles that which is holy is guilty and sins.  Sin leads to death.
11. A priest could own slaves (22:11).
12. God required flawless animals for sacrifice.  They had to be a male without defect (22:19).  This was certainly a foreshadowing of God’s own perfect gift, in the form of a man, Jesus Christ on the cross. 
13. Such a gift that was both male and perfect would be “accepted” (22:21).  Thus, these animal sacrifices were acceptable but ultimately only Jesus would be an acceptable sacrifice for sin.
14. You could not offer to God a sacrifice that had been given to you from a foreigner.  God desired that that offered up to Him as a food offering be from Israel (22:25).  This, too, is symbolic of Christ who in order to be the Messiah had to come through a perfect blood line.  He had to come through the line of David.  He could not be a foreigner.
15. God has a “liturgical” calendar which includes ordained, ceremonial feasts such as the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and several others (Chapter 23).

Joshua