Hey, Bible readers. I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. God is the only person who has spoken in Leviticus so far. And today we continue in the laws for sin offerings. Tomorrow, we'll get a bit of a break from sacrificial instructions, and we'll hear from some humans. But for now, all of these words are God's words. One of the things you may have noticed today was the distinction between when the Israelites committed a sin versus when they did something that made them unclean. Being unclean isn't a sin, so it doesn't require an offering. It just requires that they be purified. They don't have to bring a sacrifice. They just have to take a bath or spend some time away from others. We still do things like this today, quarantining people if they have something we might catch. We tell people to stay home from work if they're contagious. Again, this is not talking about sin. It's talking about uncleanness, and it's almost always related to something hygienic. Some of these hygiene regulations make sense and are especially helpful in a culture that predated modern science. For instance, not touching dead bodies, that's probably a good idea, or not eating meat after a certain period of time has passed because the fridge space available in the wilderness of Sinai was probably pretty limited.

Not all the cleanliness laws are straightforward and scientifically logical like that, but some are. For instance, you may notice that sometimes the cleanliness laws relate to blood. While this may be hygienic, it's also probably more symbolic. Blood can be confusing symbol in the Old Testament, especially. It symbolizes life and death. Obviously, when it symbolizes life, it's a good symbol. But when it's leaving the body, specifically the human body, it symbolizes death or the end of life. So it's a reminder of the fall. And that's the thing that made a person unclean sometimes, being a reminder of the fall. God is in the process of recreating Eden, so the unclean things have to be distanced from that. Being unclean wasn't intended to be a permanent thing or a symbol of shame. Everyone was unclean at some point. And God takes uncleanness seriously. Another thing you may have noticed about blood is that since it was a symbol of life, it wasn't supposed to be eaten. It was only supposed to be offered back to God, the giver of life. Today, we also saw the phrase, That person shall be cut off from his people, four times.

It was always in regard to someone who disrespects the sacrificial laws. Some people think this refers to isolating that person from the group, while other people think it indicates a premature death. Either way, God makes it clear that his sacrificial laws are to be honored. As we mentioned, sin is a different thing altogether than uncleanness. Sin does require a sacrifice. I love that God is also attentive to the needs of the poor when it comes to the sacrifices he requires of them. In many of the sacrifices, those who had more are required to give a domestic animal from the flock, one without blemish, the best of the best. But the poor among them don't have animals, much less perfect animals. So he said they can bring birds. And if they can't afford birds, They can bring flower. And they don't even have to put the costly things on it, like oil and frankincense, which if you've ever bought essential oils, you know frankincense is one of the most expensive. That stuff will break the bank. God meets his people where they are, poverty and all. We've already touched on this a bit, but even unintentional sin still requires a sacrifice.

And today, we also saw that sins of omission require the same sacrifice as sins of commission. Sins of omission are sins we commit by failing to do something we're supposed to do. Like today's mention of failing to give a testimony in a case where justice needed to be carried out. By the way, that example is the opposite of snitches get stitches. A sin of commission is when you do something God has ordered you not to do. In 6:1-7, God shows his heart and what's required of us when we sin against someone else. These sacrificial laws are Old Testament laws that no longer apply to us because Christ has offered the final sacrifice. We'll talk more about that as we continue to read. But the heart behind all of this remains. Sin against someone else required the Israelites not only to offer something to God, but also to the person they sinned against. Did you notice when the priest boiled a sin offering, they had to smash the pottery they used to boil it? On our trips to Israel, sometimes we take an hour or so to jump in with an excavation project. We go and sift the soil that has been dug out from the Temple Mount, where the Temple stood in Jerusalem, to help find and preserve ancient relics.

Almost everyone finds a broken piece of pottery because so much pottery was smashed there for these offerings. What was your God shot today? I noticed that God meets his people where they are. Not only did we see this with how he adjusts the requirements for the poor, but also in regard to how he approaches our sins in general. Somehow, much of the church today has gotten this idea that God can't be in the presence of sin. I don't see that in scripture. There's one verse in Habakkuk that seems to point to it, but it's taken out of context. In fact, what we see here is that God tells his people to come to his courts when they sin and to offer their sacrifices there, not far away. He tells them to come nearer when they sin. From the beginning of humanity with Adam and Eve, we've been running from God when we sin. We run and hide. But he says, Draw near. Remember when we read the first few chapters of Job where the sons of God, the fallen angels, including Satan, the accuser, came to speak to God in what appears to be his throne room?

God isn't afraid of sin. Everything that isn't God is less than perfect, so he's used to it. He isn't corrupted by the presence of sin. If he were, he'd have to stay quarantined himself away from all of us forever. Instead, what we see is that our God built his home in the midst of sin intentionally. He could have said, You guys are really screwing this up. I'm going to go hole up on an island in the Bahamas until you figure this thing out. See in a few thousand years. No, he entered in because he knows sinners can't fix themselves. Rid yourself of the unbiblical idea that God runs from your sin. He doesn't. He tells us to run from sin because we can be corrupted by it, but he can't. He's not afraid of you. He's not afraid of your sin. He made a way. He paid for it because he wants to be near you. And he's where the joy is.

There's a good chance the reason you're a part of the TBR family is because someone, maybe a family member, a friend, coworker, teacher, or teammate, told you about the Bible recap, either in person or on social media, and invited you to join in. And so many of you have turned around and invited even more people to join you. Did you know that because of all this, We were the number one podcast in all categories on Apple podcast? That's incredible. That many people are excited about reading the Bible. We have grown by the grace of God and word of mouth, and we couldn't be more grateful for you and your support. We would love for you to keep spreading the word. We want people all over the world to read, understand, and love scripture. And it's going to take all of us to make that happen. I can't do it by myself. And in case there's any confusion, there's never a bad time for somebody to start reading the Bible. It doesn't have to be January first. So invite your friends and family to start at the start today. Have them start at day one. Point them to the start page of our website for more info or click the link in the show notes.

Hey, Bible readers. For any of us who are working to embrace the gift of singleness, whether temporary or permanent, Hope Nation has something to encourage us. Click the link in the show notes to hear me talk about how to maintain contentment while still having hope for the future. We can do both.