Kindergarten
And YHWH called to Moses and spoke to him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Leviticus 1:1
Called – If you had to decide which book of the Bible you would use to train your children in the ways of God, would you choose Leviticus? Probably not. You would probably decide on some New Testament book, most likely the gospel of John. That seems to be the evangelical choice of the last century. But when you think about it (from God’s perspective), John is really not a very good place to being, is it? It’s far to complicated. It assumes a great deal of prior Jewish theology. It has a peculiar vocabulary (which most of us don’t appreciate in English). And it really doesn’t tell us what we need to know, does it? Yes, it proclaims the divinity of Yeshua, the Messiah, but it doesn’t really tell me what I have to do. It leaves me with verses like, “keep my commandments,” and “love one another.” But what do those statements mean in practical application? We can’t afford to guess, can we? After all, eternal matters are at stake.
Maybe that’s why the education of a Jewish child begins here, in Leviticus. Leviticus is the great book of the details of sacrifice. It spells out exactly what I have to do. It tells me precisely how I must live if I am to honor the God Who set me free. Without all this background, it’s hard to say if the gospels really come to grips with the biggest issues in life. Unless I know what Yeshua learned when he was a child in synagogue school, I really can’t appreciate what He tells me as my Lord. It’s time to go back to kindergarten and learn to read by learning Leviticus.
Most of us will have quite a bit of resistance to this idea. We think we know what the Bible is all about. It’s about faith and grace and forgiveness and mercy. Leviticus is all about peace offerings and cereal offerings and purification offerings and all those things that don’t really matter anymore, right? Why should we be bothered with ancient rituals when we are free? Who cares if the Lord smells a sweet aroma? We’re forgiven, right? We don’t have to practice all those strange customs now. Or do we?
Why did the children of ancient Israel learn to read by studying Leviticus? The answer is simple – and startling in its condemnation of our blindness. The children of ancient Israel were taught to read through the study of Leviticus because the most important thing in life is my service and submission to God. If I don’t start with this focus, all the rest of my education is really pointless. If I don’t learn right from the beginning what God wants and how to serve Him, what is the purpose of learning anything else? Parents in Israel knew something we have forgotten. God comes first! Training children in God’s word begins the moment they can talk. The purpose of education is to enter into His presence and enjoy His fellowship, not to get a better job!
God summoned Moses. That’s what this Hebrew word qara means. God is going to deliver the perfect instruction for dealing with sin in His family. It will all lead to the perfect sacrifice. But unless I know the details, unless I practice obedience, I will never understand how extraordinarily significant the death of the Messiah is. Time to get back to school. When God summons, don’t be tardy.
Topical Index: Sacrifice
