← A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace
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- [00:01]
Beth
Welcome to A Year in the Bible with daily Grace. This year we want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through our study Christ in All of Scripture. Each week we will dive deeply into two passages of Scripture, one from the Old Testament and one from the new, seeing how they connect and point to Jesus.
- [00:18]
Alexa
Whether you are doing the study yourself or just following along with us here, we are hopeful that through studying these passages each week, you will see how Christ is not only present throughout the entire Biblical story, but but the center of it.
- [00:30]
Beth
Hi everyone. Welcome back to another week of A year in the Bible. My name is Beth and I am here as always with my co host Alexa.
- [00:38]
Alexa
Hi everyone. Today we'll be talking about the annotation day on Leviticus 16, 20, 22. That passage says when he has finished making atonement from the most holy place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he is to present the live male goat. Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites, iniquities and rebellious acts, all their sins. He is to put them on the goat's head and send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task. The goat will carry all their iniquities into a desolate land and the man will release it there. So Beth, tell us how this annotation went for you.
- [01:18]
Beth
So I personally love the book of Leviticus, so this passage is very close to my heart. But I also know that this book is pretty intimidating and confusing for most people, which is unsurprising. So I'm actually really excited to go deeper into this passage over the course of this week. And so the first thing that I want to say is that when tackling Leviticus, it is best to start with a broad perspective and then move to a more narrow perspective. So I think talking about God's attributes is the best way to get us started thinking about a broad understanding of what's going on here. So I think the most important and clear attribute that's present in this passage is that God is our provider. So there are two things I want to point out that God is providing for his people here. The first is that God is providing the process of making atonement. We're going to talk a little bit more about that tomorrow when we go deeper into this passage. But all that we need to see now is that God is the one giving these instructions that he's explaining how it is that atonement can be made. And the second thing is that God is providing very clear instructions for his people about how they are to go about making atonement. This is important mostly because of understanding Israel in the context of where they were living at the time is that they were surrounded by these other nations that all were also making sacrifices, but those sacrifices and those other nations were worshiping gods that weren't real. And so gods that weren't talking to them, gods that weren't telling them what was expected of them. And so it was all just a bunch of guesswork. And so where God sets himself apart from the gods of the other nations is that he clearly communicates to his people by dwelling with them in their presence and giving them very clear instructions about what is expected of them. And so all that to say, it can be really easy to read this stuff in the Bible about these laws and sacrifices as being really legalistic or about works or rituals, but really God is just as gracious here as he is when he sends Jesus. And so I think, yeah, God's graciousness is another attribute to point out. He is providing these instructions to the people and he is giving them a way for them to be near to Him.
- [03:30]
Alexa
That's super helpful. And. And honestly, at first glance, we might not see that God is providing for his people by atoning for their sins as well as giving them those instructions. So that really does help us as we think about that pass. So was there another prompt that you wanted to talk about?
- [03:47]
Beth
Yeah, I think the last prompt in this study day really helps us move our thinking from being broad to being more narrow. And so it asks us about the last verse, which is verse 22, and has us think about why this goat was sent into a desolate land. I really liked this question. I liked having to think about this. And so I think that the second goat in Leviticus 16 is often the most confusing aspect of the day of atonement. And so this question is really helpful to have us slow down and think about that element. So what I put down was that God wanted their sin to be totally removed from the camp and from the people and to be sent to a place where there isn't any nourishment. And so I think that's the symbolism that's happening there with the second goat, is that it would be sent away to a desolate land where sin could die.
- [04:36]
Alexa
That's honestly so helpful for me because I think understanding the scapegoat has always been kind of confusing for me. And I'm sure that's super helpful. Helpful for the readers as well. And I know we're going to go into a little bit more detail about the scapegoat later this week, so super, super excited about that. Okay, that's all that we have for today. Be sure to join us tomorrow as we dive deeper into Leviticus 16:20 22. Thank you for listening to today's episode of A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. Be sure to check out our show notes for some helpful links and resources related to today's episode, and make sure you're following Daily Grace Podcast and at the Daily Grace Co on Instagram for more Bible study resources and encouragement. We're looking forward to studying God's Word with you again tomorrow. Bye friends.