Readings:
Leviticus 26-27
Psalm 43-44

Chapter 26 contains two completely opposite possibilities for the people to chose from. On the one hand, God tells Moses to say to the people that if they keep all the regulations he’s handed down to them, if they honor God and shun the false worship of idols, if they keep his statues and walk in his ways, then he will bless them and the land over abundantly. He promises to make their lives a breeze in this new land he is giving them.

But on the other hand, if they break these commandments and turn away, then the punishments are even more severe than the blessings were in generosity. And this doesn’t mean sinning, because the Mosaic Law envisions the people sinning, pretty regularly, and has many ways for them to atone for their sins. God never asks anyone to do anything impossible, if he asks it, then it’s within your ability (with his help) to do it.

The curses contained herein are envisioning a complete rejection of the Law. Think of it as faithful Israelites being like someone who is a sinner, recognizes the fact, and then goes to confession. But apostate Israel is like someone who is a sinner and either refuses to acknowledge their sin or just doesn’t care and never even attempts to seek reconciliation.

As long as the people honored their covenant with God, he’d also honor his side of the deal. And it’s really a very good deal for these people, but as we all know, they will go through phases of complete rejection of God, followed by partial reconciliation, followed by further rejection. This is why by the time of the Incarnation, they are being occupied by yet another dominant power, rather than ruling themselves under these laws established in the Books of Moses.

Overall, despite being considered one of the hardest books of the Old Testament to get through, I feel like there’s a lot of value to us modern Christians here if we just take the time to look for it. All scripture is valuable, but sometimes it feels like it isn’t, that’s when we need to dig a little deeper like searching for treasure. (Importance of the Old Testament)

Tomorrow we start the Book of Numbers. This book has many tedious feeling chapters, where as the name suggests there are lots of numbers of people and things, but it also has a ton of interesting things going on. So I’m very looking forward to reading through it. We’re also going to begin the book of Job because his story sits outside the main narrative of the rest of the Old Testament, so it need not be read in the order you see it in most Bibles.

Tomorrow’s readings:
Numbers 1-2
Job 1
Psalm 45