We’ve been discussing God’s best ways for the people to live and how He gave them to Moses to give to the Israelis during the times of the Wilderness Tabernacle.

Today we will hear of the rules that God gave to the priesthood. The priests were to be examples to the people. They were held to very high standards.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the COME AS A CHILD bible study which is held on this blog every Thursday. Our scripture passage today can be found in Leviticus, Chapter 21. If you missed last week’s lesson; you may find it here: A PEOPLE MADE READY – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 226.

THE PRIESTS WERE TO LIVE HOLY LIVES

In Leviticus 21 we hear more of the strict rules that God gave Moses for the Priests who were to be serving in the Wilderness Tabernacle.

Some of these scriptures may sound odd to us at first. We have to study the times, the culture and dig deep into the theology of the Wilderness Tabernacle in order to understand exactly what applied then and how we should translate these things into the living out of our lives today.

RULES FOR THE PRIESTHOOD

The priests serving the people of the wilderness tabernacle were not to touch dead bodies; except for close relatives and only when necessary. I’m sure there are a million and one technical reasons for this rule; but that isn’t what I want to discuss today.

They should not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. This too is an odd commandment; but I’m sure we could do a little searching and discover exactly why God said to do this. Not today; I have more urgent things to talk about.

They were not to take the name of God in vain. This goes without saying. Everyone gets that one! We are going to discuss another topic today.

They should not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been divorced. There are reasons for this too; but we will discuss them at a later time.

They were to teach their children to be holy. There were strict rules for the children and wives of the priests as well as the priests themselves. Anyone who has ever been in ministry can relate to this part of the scriptures. Some things never change. That isn’t what we want to discuss here today.

THE HIGH PRIEST WAS HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD

There were even more rules for The High Priest, such as; he must not let his hair become un-kept, and he must not tear his clothes.  He must marry a virgin; not a widowed or divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. His offspring are to follow in his footsteps as priests; so they are to be taught to be holy in all of their ways.  All of these things were in the scriptures and discussed by God through Moses; but it is the very next thing that I want to discuss today.

TODAY’S SHOCKING TOPIC

All of the above would be hard enough for most any human; but the last part of Chapter 21 of the Book of Leviticus actually left me speechless.  I had to read it over and over again and I was still speechless.

It says:

“No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the LORD. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.’” (Leviticus 21:18-22)

This sounds like a pretty heartless requirement from The One loving and merciful God.

How on earth do we explain these things?

WOULD A JUST GOD ACTUALLY DISQUALIFY THE DISABLED?

Would God truly disqualify a person who had a defect such as blindness?

Would God turn away a person because he was crippled or if he had a deformity, or if he was a hunchback or if he had been born a midget?

This isn’t the gospel that I’ve always heard!

I’m sure Jesus would not have turned these people away; but would have been looking at the condition of their hearts instead of the condition of their physical bodies and appearances.

What gives here?

SEARCHING FOR ACCEPTABLE ANSWERS

I frantically searched the scriptures and all the commentaries for an answer to this horrifying question. It truly had me baffled. I prayed for God to show me the truth of the matter and to explain WHY it was true.

What were the reasons for this strange qualification for the High Priest of the wilderness tabernacle?

Why could priests who had disabilities not be qualified to become a High Priest or to offer the sacrifices of the people to God in the place behind the veil called the Holy of Holies?

CLEARING UP THE MUDDY WATERS

A few things began to become clear.

First of all; the disabled children of the High Priest were not disqualified from being priests who served; they were only disqualified from serving as the High Priest.

One must consider what the “type” and “shadow” of the High Priest represented.

Everything about the Wilderness Tabernacle was a type and shadow of Christ.

Clearly, as we have stated over and over, the High Priest was a type and shadow of Jesus Christ.  Christ came to earth to become our atonement; our holy sacrifice to God to atone for our sins.

REMEMBER THE FIRST FRUIT OFFERINGS

If you go all the way back in time to the first offering of the first fruits offerings (which Christ represents) every single passage of the scriptures state that this particular offering was to be holy, pure and “without blemish.”

We know the old, old story of Cain and Abel and how Abel offered a sacrifice “without blemish” and how Cain did not. Cain gave of his garden and kept the unspoiled, the unblemished, the perfect vegetables for himself and he chose to serve God his leftovers; the less desirable of the fruits and vegetables. (Please do NOT think I am saying that the disabled are less desirable – because they definitely are NOT. Stay with me all the way through on this.)

SYMBOLIC LOGIC BEHIND THE HIGH PRIEST

I am beginning to understand that the High Priest from the wilderness tabernacle, the one standing in the place of Christ for the people, was a symbolic “type” in the wilderness tabernacle and that meant that he needed to be “perfect” in every way.

Of course; no human could be perfect!

Only Christ was “perfect” in every way. He was an “unblemished” sacrifice.  Perhaps God wanted mankind to discover this fact for themselves; so that they would begin to believe in Christ instead of the ways of mankind.

HOW DOES GOD SEE THE DISABLED?

Still; I am bothered by these words.

Would this scripture passage and this logic mean that those who are disabled seem to be “less than perfect” in God’s eyes?

I am still troubled; though I see and understand the typology and the need for a perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of mankind.

I know that Jesus was perfect and without blemish; but I also know that He loved and accepted the lame, the blind, the diseased and the “less than perfect” humans that He came into contact with. He saw that spiritually; they often excelled and rose far above those who were perfect physically; but had flaws in their spirits.

How could anyone explain this passage to anyone with disabilities and not have them come to the end of it feeling inferior and not loved by God?

Yet; all that is in me tells me this isn’t true and that they ARE loved and totally accepted by God. They are accepted for the very same reason that those who are physically perfect are accepted; because Jesus died for them and made them whole in the eyes of God.

Some people are broken physically.

Some people are broken spiritually.

ALL people are broken and beyond hope without the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

CHRIST WAS “UNBLEMISHED”

I understand the significance of this statement.

I understand it better when I ask one more question; What if Christ had been “blemished?”

Hmmmm…….that would mean that He would have sinned in the time that He lived and walked the earth as a man.

Then He would have been just exactly like all the rest of us; no better; no worse.

He WOULD NOT have been a perfect sacrifice for our sins any more.

The very fact that He was “unblemished and/or without sin” made Him special; different than any other.

The High Priest represents Christ.

The effective High Priest needed to be perfect in every way – physically perfect (as he was) and spiritually perfect (as he was.)

Now we are beginning to understand.

NO ONE was qualified to be this High Priest – until Christ! He was THE ONLY PERFECT ONE

That is the very reason why He had to come down and live among us and live, die, rise and ascend to God’s throne again in order to save us. Our salvation depended on Him being “unblemished.”

NOT PERFECT; JUST SHADOWS AND TYPES

We were only learning God’s ways through those ancient men that God put into the role of the wilderness tabernacle as High Priest. They were only “temporary” and not complete; until the coming of Christ.

Aaron was never perfect.

He sinned many times.

The High Priests of Israel who followed after him were not perfect either.
God had to send His Only Begotten Son in order for us to get this right. He was without blemish.

Hence; the accuracy and perfection of the High Priest had to be recognized.

GOD DID LOVE THOSE WITH DISABILITIES

This odd requirement did NOT mean that God didn’t love or accept those who were disqualified from inheriting the office of High Priest because of their physical disabilities.

God DID love those people!

He totally accepted them; but not as The High Priest.

But…..why????

There could only be ONE TRUE HIGH PRIEST. God accepted all the possible candidates and loved them so much that He gave His Only Begotten Son to save them.

A THEOLOGY I CAN AGREE WITH

Just recently I read another blog post from a person who calls  themself an “Armchair Theologian.” Now that’s a cool name to have!  Their proper name is a mystery and they are writing from a place that is not as free as the one from which I write.  There is no one to give credit to here except “The Armchair Theologian; and I offer my thanks to this mysterious blogger for the following bit of wisdom.

The post they blogged on this very same subject was very impressive and I greatly appreciated their insight.

The blogger made a lot of sense to me; and being the loyal blogger that I am I want to share the link here so that you may refer to his original post yourself  (I cannot take any of the credit for the three paragraphs which are posted in quotes below in blue): https://amtog.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/theology-of-disability/.

I sincerely liked this blogger’s take on the explanation of why God did what He did with the ancient wilderness priesthood in terms of who could and who could not serve. He put it this way; which helped me to understand; and I am quoting his blog post word for word here to help you to understand:

“ In the beginning (because that truly is where everything started) God made human beings without disabilities. No, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say so but there is no reason to assume that Adam or Eve were missing limbs or were disfigured in some way. I’m not aware of anyone ever suggesting this was the case. Then came the Fall. The whole of creation became corrupted both materially and spiritually. Disabilities, deformities and defects entered the picture along with death, disease and man’s inhumanity to man.”

“I believe that generally (which allows for exceptions) God doesn’t’ make people disabled, defective or disfigured. And while He may allow such things to exist/happen (and on occasion afflict particular people with them) God doesn’t desire humankind to be disabled. Nor do I think that God ultimately rejects people because of their physical imperfections.”

“So what is God’s attitude toward the disabled? I think we need to look at Jesus (the exact representation of God’s being) to find out. When we see Jesus interact with the disabled, we don’t get the impression that they are unwanted by Him. We get the opposite impression. He wanted them to come to Him. He wanted to heal them. (‘Lord if you are willing….” “I am willing…”) And I think that reflects God’s attitude toward the disabled. He longs to resotre them to the wholeness that humans had before the Fall. He didn’t make humans to be blind or deaf or deformed. He doesn’t make them that way now. True, He allows physical defects but the miracle healings of Jesus point to the time when He will no longer allow the Curse to afflict His people that way. When the kingdom of God comes in its fullness, the people of God will receive their new bodies. Their imperishable and incorruptible bodies. There will be no disabled people for there will be no disabilities. The old things will pass away and He will make all things new.”

LOOKING AT GOD’S TIMELINE

These seem to be wise words which imply that God loves people who are disabled; not for the reason that they are disabled; but because of who they really are inside; His children.

God seems to see the disabled for the way they WILL be when we reach that place in eternity when we all are healed of everything earthly; those who are physically disabled of their physical ailments and those who are spiritually disabled of their spiritual blindness and lack of love.

We should all be looking at each other the same way that God sees us; for whom He created us to be instead of for whom the things of this world have tried to make us out to be. God sees the disabled as perfect; for whom He made them to be. He sees from God’s perspective outside of time.  We humans are often too blind to see. We can’t get past the physical to see the spiritual.  Our perspective is only human and inside of time.  Just like the priests of the wilderness tabernacle with disabilities; we are very limited too.  We all need Christ in order to be complete and whole.

God is living beyond our human concepts of time. He sees from beyond the future. He knows EVERYTHING past, present and future. He sees us not as we are now; but as we will be when we are completely His forever.

One day all of us who believe in Christ will be like Christ and like those physical priests represented in the pattern of the wilderness tabernacle; we will be considered to be completely whole, unbroken and pure – without blemish.

Only a loving, merciful God could make this possible.

Let’s all learn to see as God does.

If this could happen, we would no longer have a need to be constantly developing and improving our theology; we would simply have His love written within our hearts and that would make us be forever free and “unblemished” like Christ.