Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year.
Yesterday we heard about the Day of Atonement and the sacrifices that are involved and the
rituals that are involved and how Aaron would first offer sacrifices on his own behalf and
then on behalf of the people.
We also heard about the things that if committed would cut off a person from the people.
And today we're going to hear a bit more about the priesthood of Aaron and some of
the things that they are not allowed to do.
Alright, let's begin.
Today's reading is from Leviticus chapters 20 to 22.
Chapter 20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Again
you shall say to the children of Israel, whoever of the children of Israel or of the strangers
who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be
put to death.
The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from his people, because he has
given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile my sanctuary and profane my holy name.
And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man when he gives
some of his descendants to Molech and they do not kill him, then I will set my face against
that man and against his family, and I will cut him off from his people and all who prostitute
themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.
And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits to prostitute himself with them, I
will set my face against that person and cut him off from his people.
Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God, and you shall
keep my statutes and perform them.
I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
He has cursed his father or his mother.
His blood shall be upon him.
The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with
his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness.
Both of them shall surely be put to death.
Their blood shall be upon them.
If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death.
They have committed perversion.
Their blood shall be upon them.
If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.
They shall surely be put to death.
Their blood shall be upon them.
If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness.
They shall be burnt with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among
you.
If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.
If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the
animal.
They shall surely be put to death, their blood is upon them.
If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and sees her nakedness,
when she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing, and they shall be cut off in the sight
of their people.
He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, he shall bear his guilt.
If a man lies with a woman, during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed
her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood.
Both of them shall be cut off from their people.
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, nor of your father's sister,
for that would uncover his near of kin.
They shall bear their guilt.
If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness, they shall
bear their sin, they shall die childless.
If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing, he has uncovered his brother's
nakedness, they shall die childless.
You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and perform them, that the
land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out, and you shall not walk
in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you.
For they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
But I have said to you, you shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess
a land flowing with milk and honey.
I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds
and clean.
And you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living
thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
And you shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples,
that you should be mine.
A man or a woman, who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put
to death.
They shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them.
Chapter 21 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the priests,
the sons of Aaron, and say to them, None shall defile himself for the dead among his people,
except for his relatives, who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his
daughter, and his brother.
Also his virgin sister, who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile
himself.
Otherwise, he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of
their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God.
For they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God.
Therefore they shall be holy.
They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a
woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God.
He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord who sanctify you am holy.
The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes
her father, she shall be burned with fire.
He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head anointing oil was poured, and
who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor tear his clothes.
Nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother.
Nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God.
For the consecration of the anointing oil of God is upon him, I am the Lord.
And he shall take a wife in her virginity, a widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman
or a harlot, these he shall not marry.
But he shall take a version of his own people as wife.
Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lord sanctify him.
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to Aaron, saying, No man of your descendants
in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God.
Nor any man who has a defect shall not approach, a man blind or lame, who has a marred face,
or any limb too long, a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or is a hunchback or
a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch.
No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer
the offerings made by fire to the Lord.
He has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy, only he shall not
go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect.
Lest he profane my sanctuaries, for I the Lord sanctify them.
And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel.
Chapter 22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak
to Aaron and his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children
of Israel, and that they do not profane my holy name by what they dedicate to me, for
I am the Lord.
Say to them, whoever of all your descendants throughout your generations who goes near
the holy things which the children of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has uncleanness
upon him, that person shall be cut off from my presence.
I am the Lord.
Whatever man of the descendants of Aaron who is a leper or who has a discharge, shall not
eat the holy offerings until he is clean, and whoever touches anything made unclean
by a corpse, or a man who has had an emission of semen, or whoever touches any creeping
thing by which he would be made unclean, or any person by whom he would become unclean,
whatever his uncleanness may be, the person who has touched any such thing, shall be unclean
until evening and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he washes his body with water,
and when the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat the holy offerings
because it is his food.
Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it.
I am the Lord.
They shall therefore keep my ordinance, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby, if they
profane it.
I the Lord sanctify them.
No outsider shall eat the holy offering.
One who dwells with the priest or a hired servant shall not eat the holy thing.
But if the priest buys a person with his money he may eat it, and one who is born in his
house may eat his food.
If the priest's daughter is married to an outsider she may not eat of the holy offerings,
but if the priest's daughter is a widow or divorced and has no child and has returned
to her father's house as in her youth, she may eat her father's food, but no outsider
shall eat it.
And if a man eats the holy offering unintentionally, then he shall restore a holy offering to the
priest and add one fifth to it.
They shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel which they offer to
the Lord, or allow them to bear the guilt of trespass when they eat their holy offerings.
For I the Lord sanctify them.
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the children
of Israel and say to them, Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in
Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his free will offerings,
which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering, you shall offer of your own free will a male
without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats.
Whatever has a defect you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf.
And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord to fulfill his vow, or
a free will offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted.
There shall be no defect in it.
Those that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall
not offer to the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord.
Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb too long or too short, you may offer as a free
will offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.
You shall not offer to the Lord what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut, nor shall you
make any offering of them in your land.
Nor from a foreigner's hand shall you offer any of these as the bread of your God, because
their corruption is in them, and defects are in them, they shall not be accepted on your
behalf.
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall
be seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted
as an offering made by fire to the Lord.
Whether it is a cow or you, do not kill both her and her young on the same day.
And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will.
On the same day it shall be eaten, you shall leave none of it until morning.
I am the Lord.
Therefore you shall keep my commandments and perform them.
I am the Lord.
You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel.
I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God.
I am the Lord.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did and I look forward to seeing you
again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.