Leviticus 21 & 22 there is a brilliant repeated phrase
I the LORD am holy—I who make you holy
This repetition reminds the priests of what God has done for them and therefore why they must adhere to a higher standard than the rest of the world. It also reminds us that it is not the action of sacrifice of law observance that made them holy, but it was God’s action that justified them. Therefore they are to act according to the position they’ve been given.
This phrase is of course reminiscent of the one that is repeated throughout the book of Leviticus (and discussed in the last post)
Be holy as I am holy
Or one could read it Be holy because I am holy. Leviticus is about making sure that the people God chooses live up to the standard of the position they’ve been placed in as his chosen people.
Leviticus 22:32-33
“I am the LORD, who made you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD.”
The thing is holiness is what all people were made and intended for, we were all made in his image but it was our sin that strips us of that holiness. It is good to remember that it is God not our actions that make us holy. We all know this in our heads but if we knew it and lived by it their would be less sin, and less judgeyness in our communities.
Thats all, it was a short one I know.
p.s. This chapter also includes some some stipulations that forbid the disabled from priesthood. This is one of the many things that are problematic in this text to the modern reader, I don’t agree with that, and I know that Jesus had no qualms about the disabled. But still this bit of the text troubles me… I mean we cant just brush these things under the carpet. I’m afraid I have no easy answer for it, no way to magically make these verses more palatable. Any answers people can offer in the comments would be appreciated. I can only say that the Christian attitude should take after the example of Jesus primarily, and we know that Jesus really did a number on a many old testament laws, (example here). The primary Christian attitude should be geared toward compassion, and also we should remember the example that Jesus healed people: We need to pray for more healing today and help people in practical ways too.
