If you are like me, you have never been particularly enthralled with the Old Testament. Sure 39 of the 66 books in the Bible are Old Testament. (46 out of 73 in the Catholic Bible.) But have you tried to read it? So much obsolete language and symbolism. Ok, I get that the Old Testament is where we find all of the beloved children’s Bible stories – Noah and the ark, Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah. And lots of quotes from books like Isaiah make great artwork – the soaring eagle picture with Isaiah 40:31 inscribed in fancy font. Think about it, how many Sunday Morning Sermons do you hear preached on the Old Testament? Especially if your pastor is into expository preaching.
But then, last year, I was forced to take a class on the Old Testament. It was a requirement for my diploma. I saved it as one of the last classes to take. But then something funny happened – I enjoyed all of the symbolism and the deep imagery. I’d never looked at long sections of it as poetry. There was more to this section of the Bible than I realized. I also came to find out that Jesus had less original material than I thought. (This is humor, chuckle here.) I read passages for class where I literally said – I thought Jesus said that! He did say it, when He was quoting the scripture. Turns out I had actually memorized several Old Testament passages but accredited them to only New Testament references.
Right now, I am working my way through Leviticus. Yes, working my way through. I said I have a newfound appreciation of this material; I didn’t say that makes it suddenly easy. I thought this particular symbolism to be fascinating. In Leviticus 8:22-24 (and also Exodus 29:20), Moses takes some blood of the sacrifice used to consecrate the new priests and, as God commanded, applies it to some seemingly odd places on the priest’s body. What in the world?!?
Next he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. Moses slaughtered it, took some of its blood, and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Moses also presented Aaron’s sons and put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then Moses splattered the blood on all sides of the altar. Leviticus 8:22-24
Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on his sons’ right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. Exodus 29:20
Their earlobe, their thumb and their toe?? And only the right side??
So, yeah, the right side. Most people are right-handed making the right side of the body the stronger and most used side. God would consecrate the strongest side for His use. Ok, I get that. But their earlobe, their thumb and their big toe?? Ah, symbolism. These three members of the body represent the things that God desired most from Aaron and his descendants as they served as the priests. The ear for hearing the Word of God. The thumb for doing the Will of God. The big toe for going where God directed them. The core of who they were and all they were to do was represented in these three areas. That is pretty deep.
And taking it a step further, the same things are now expected of us as Christians. We have replaced Aaron’s direct descendants as the holy priesthood, as Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2:4-10. We are called to Hear, to Do and to Go. Ponder that today. And try to take a fresh look at the Old Testament, even the hard books like Leviticus.
God Provides Grace and Humor 