Worship in the Wilderness #22: Things to Watch Out For

 Read Leviticus 22

Background: Chapter 22 continues from chapter 21 in giving special instructions to priests.  Because of the great responsibility entrusted to them they needed to be extra vigilant in maintaining the holiness of the tabernacle and offering sacrifices.  What they did or failed to do not only affected them, but the whole congregation. God begins by telling the priests to be especially vigilant about uncleanness in their own lives, lest they profane the temple with their leprosy, discharges, or contact with something unclean and then pass it on to the people.  Next He told them to beware the temptation to become lax about what they did with their part of the offerings: it was for their dependents, not extended family or friends. They should not become accustomed to giving any "extra" to others to ingratiate them. A major part of their job as priests was to screen the offerings being bought as we see in verses:

Key Verses: 17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, 19 if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21 And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.

Thoughts: The priests were to make sure that the offerings brought to them, and especially the ones they themselves gave, were "up to standards."  It they were to let anything less "slip through" they would send the wrong message, as if God's ways were "negotiable." Finally, in the last paragraph, they were told to not allow newborn animals to be separated from their mothers. As with clean and unclean, there was this consistency with how animal life and human life were treated. There was to be no cruelty.