Is Beauty only Skin Deep?
"The Lord said to Moses" in Leviticus 21:16-23 that no priest with a physical defect may approach the alter to give a sacrifice, otherwise he would defile God's sanctuary.
I had no idea God was that superficial that physically disabled people would desecrate his sanctuary. What on earth does outward appearance have to do with the quality of an individual? Have we learned something in the 21st century that Jehovah hasn't?
16 The LORD said to Moses, 17 "Say to Aaron: 'For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the LORD by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 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.' "
I had no idea God was that superficial that physically disabled people would desecrate his sanctuary. What on earth does outward appearance have to do with the quality of an individual? Have we learned something in the 21st century that Jehovah hasn't?
posted by R.K. at 1:59 PM
2 Comments:
It is not talking about the quality of the individual, but about the physical qualifications of the individual.
It's comparable to the physical quilifications to do any job.
If a person wanted to be a firefighter, they wouldn't qualify if they were blind, lame, hunchbacked, or dwarfed.
It's no reflection of their personality or value but simply of their qualification.
M.K.
I finally took the time to fully read the context in which this is written.
These qualifications do not apply to all or just any priest.
This is the priest that is the one that enters into the Holy of Holies, God's very presence.
There are only a very select few that are allowed that privilege.
This priest also cannot marry a widow, she is not pure enough, he must marry a virgin.
He cannot even attend a funeral, not even the funeral of his own mother, or father.
Death was brought about by satan's disobedience and influence in our lives (through Adam's choice).
Not every human who has lived upon this earth has died.
Some were simply translated into God's presence.
They did not walk through the portal of death.
This priest must remain pure and undefiled at all times .
If he is not pure enough, the next time he enters the Holy of Holies they will have to pull him out by the rope tied around his leg, because he will be struck dead.
God is very serious about purity, and he doesn't hesitate to show it.
Because Jesus lived a pure and holy life as a human and willingly gave His own life as a sacrifice for our sin, now God can live in His new Holy of Holies, our body (our heart).
Before Jesus, God's dwelling place on the earth was in the Ark of the Covenant, in the Holy of Holies, so He could be near the humans that He had created.
He needed a container to live in to have legal right to be here on earth.
Our container is our body, our earth suit.
Without it we have no right to life here on this planet.
Humans built the ark, and invited God to dwell there. Without the container and the invitation from a human, He has no legal right to live here on earth.
Even now He cannot live in the container of our 'heart' without our invitation. He only has children and no grandchildren. Each human has to give his own invitation.
That has always been His greatest desire, to dwell and commune with His ultimate creation, we humans that He created in His own likeness and image.
Gos is perfect and pure, and we are not.
All impurity and imperfection comes from satan. It's not a reflection of the person's choices, integrity, or value, but simply a display of what satan has inflicted upon the person. It's because satan, the ultimate bully has chosen a particular person to dispay his handiwork. Jesus has healed all of it, and all of us, on the cross. Any imperfection of any kind in us means we have not yet fully received everything that Jesus paid for when He was here on earth.
A priest with physical imperfections that comes into God's presence (the Holy of Holies), would be a constant reminder of satan and his handiwork.
As parents, when we have a child born to us, and they are physically or emotionally scarred in any way, whether it happened in the womb, or after their birth, to look upon it brings pain to the parent. It doesn't bring rejection or revulsion.
God too feels pain when He sees how satan has harmed us, and the one place in which He dwelt here on earth, He did not want to be reminded of satan, but only of the beauty, (physical, emotional, and spiritual) of His ultimate creation.
Does this help you understand God a little better?
He is the ultimate legalist.
If He bent His own laws, even the slightest bit, this whole earth, the universe, and everything we know of, would totally collapse and be destroyed. He must obey every law He ever created or His most precious creation (us) would be utterly destroyed.
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