The Freedom Found in Instruction
/“I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.”
Our Bible is incredibly full. It is overflowing with beautiful poetry, awe-inspiring narrative, and gospels about Jesus Christ. All in all, it is quite amazing that we have such a vast collection of writings that can teach us about both our faith, and the faith of people in the past.
However, every once in a while we miss out on some of the richness of this book because it was initially written for a different time and people. It is important to remember that we were not the original audience. The Bible does continue to speak to every generation and every culture, so it is fair that we draw similarities between ourselves and the events of the Bible, and it’s wonderful that we can learn from them (their successes and their shortcomings). When we see their circumstances and the similarities that they have in comparison to our own, we have hidden insight into how things might turn out. But, the downside to this is that we often miss the context of what was said and why it was important to those people initially. This can sometimes (and I’ll admit I’m guilty of this too) lead us to take some passages of Scripture less seriously than we should. Say, as an example, the latter half of Exodus and the book of Leviticus.
Now, If my mere mention of one of the least popular books of the Bible is causing you to want to stop reading, I would urge you to strive on. Contrary to the picture of strict, arbitrary and oppressive living that comes to mind when most people think of Leviticus, the laws written in this book as well as the latter half of Exodus, should instead be understood as life-giving to the Israelites, through and through.
Before we get into Leviticus and the Law of Moses, its best to look at some narrative context. The Israelites were captives of Egypt at the beginning of the book of Exodus. Once Moses came they witnessed the ten plagues, they fled, and they crossed the sea. From there they came to Mount Sinai. This is the location, we are told, where a large chunk of writing takes place (Exodus 19-Numbers 10). When the Israelites fled Egypt, they were refugees and slaves searching for a better life. For the past 400 years, they had only known what it meant to be under Egyptian rule. Everything they knew about who they were and what was expected of them vanished. They had been given the lofty promise of their own land and God, but didn’t have a clue how to get there, or how to behave in the meantime. But once they leave Sinai (Numbers 10), they are all registered, a well-organized army that marches tribe by tribe. The year and a half that they were camped at this mountain had a huge impact on them. Yet it rarely seems to have any impact on us readers. Why is that?
The last half of Exodus and the book of Leviticus rarely make an impression on us as Christians because we no longer have temple sacrifices as part of our worship. We often skim past the sections that talk about the dimensions of the tabernacle, or the dietary laws, or the command to poop outside of the camp (after all, most of us have indoor plumbing) because it doesn’t seem to directly apply to us.
To put it bluntly, this is a slightly selfish way of reading the Bible. That the teachings from these two books had such a visible impact on the Israelite people means it is important that we learn to read this section right. So instead, let us try to empathize with Israel for a moment and attempt to see the significance of this part of the Bible.
So, I want to ask you to do something for me. Imagine for a moment that you’re starting your first job, maybe as a shelf stocker at a grocery store. You’re excited to be employed, and you want to make your boss proud and serve the store well. To work though, you first must go through orientation. Your boss needs to walk you down the isles and show you where the products are shelved, and then take you to the back room and show you where the inventory is stocked and how it is organized. They show you how to punch in at the beginning of your day, and how to punch out. You take a tour of the break room, learn where the managers’ office is, and are even given workplace health and safety information.
All of this might seem tedious to the shoppers since all they care about is getting groceries and going home, but as an employee, this is of the greatest importance. You desire to know the ins and outs of the store and your workplace because you want to do your job well, and you want to enjoy working there. Not having instructions on how to go about your business would make you more anxious and worried that you were doing your job wrong, even if it would be in a sense “freeing”. The rules and rituals of work are not there to prohibit you from doing your job well, or to restrict your individuality in how you accomplish stocking shelves. They are instructions so that you do your job right. It would not be right for a store to have shelf stockers that put whatever they want where ever they want it. A shelf stocker that did that would be fired, and understandably so.
This is similar to how the Israelites felt at Mount Sinai. This was a time of orientation where God was showing them how to live well. Up until that point, the Israelites knew almost nothing about how God was to be worshiped or how to live as a nation under him. They only knew how the Egyptians worshiped their gods and how Egypt set up their nation. God did not want this for them; he had something better. So he taught the Israelites not only of how to worship, but how to live with one another as neighbours, tribes, and together as people.
From how we see the Israelites act as they leave Sinai, it is clear that they didn’t think of these teachings as either restricting or as a burden to carry. They were excited to be shown how God wanted them to live. You can look at Psalm 119 above as a further example of how Israel loved their instruction! They rejoiced in it, were glad, even delighted. These are probably not the words we use to describe the books of the Law these days, but for the Israelites, they were life-giving. They took out lots of the ambiguity of life.
For me, this time spent at Sinai has become one of my favourite sections of the Bible. I love how God transforms Israel from wandering slaves into an orderly nation. I think it is amazing how God changed them and how he shows grace by giving direction in life. He met the Israelites where they were at, and worked with them from there. He did not have the expectation that they already knew how to accomplish their job before even arriving. He met them as a father does their child, teaching them with grace and forgiveness. He does this with us as well. How joyful we should become when we are taught how to pray, worship, and live our lives with one another! To be given this kind of direction is what is truly freeing.
